


































Copyright N°_ 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 


G * O 
























TWO GIRLS 

AND 

TWO TREASURES 



. 









* 































'‘Lucille Douglas, wake up yourself !”—Page 17 












TWO GIRLS 

AND 

TWO TREASURES 


By 

AGNES MILLER 

* * 

Author of “ The Chimes of Basham High ” 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

FLORENCE J. HOOPES 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 

c mn-j 











Copyright, 1927, 

By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 

All Rights Reserved 
Two Girls and Two Treasures 


Printed in U. S. A. 

Worwoot) ©tees 

BERWICK & SMITH CO. 
Norwood, Mass. 


qcp Z0’21 

G<-> 

©Cl ftl 004242 




CONTENTS 


L 

Enchanted Ground 

- 

9 

II. 

Eepresentatiye People 

- 

29 

III. 

Bad and Sad - 

- 

53 

IY. 

On Battery Cape - 

- 

67 

Y. 

The Silver Plaque - 

- 

81 

YI. 

Four Clues - 

- 

97 

YII. 

A New Round Table 

- 

118 

YIII. 

Confidences - 

- 

134 

IX. 

Alison’s Scheme 


148 

X. 

A Dragon at Home - 

- 

162 

XI. 

Ginger’s Scheme 

- 

188 

XII. 

A Fish Story - 

- 

205 

XIII. 

Untangled - 

- 

220 

XIY. 

Saturday Afternoon 

- 

241 

XY. 

Flat and Square 

- 

255 

XYI. 

“ The Tale of Carleton ” 

- 

268 

XYII. 

The Home-Coming - 

- 

283 

XYin. 

Silver and Gold 

- 

296 


5 



ILLUSTRATIONS 


“Lucille Douglas, wake up your¬ 
self!” (Page 17) . Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

“You’ve left out the most important 
of all the events in Carleton 
history ” . . . . 176 

“ Let’s give the performance on Bat¬ 
tery Cape!” .... 198 

So no one saw Lucille and Ethel, still 
kneeling, long after the gun 
had moved . . . .254 


7 


/ 



Two Girls and Two 



CHAPTER I 


ENCHANTED GROUND 


“Why, here’s Captain Jim!” 
“Good-morning, Captain! Did you see 
the parade up on the green? ” 

“ Yes, Lucille. But I didn’t think much 
of it this year, so I come on down here with 
the other boys and girls, knowing I’d draw 
something fust-rate this time, sure! ” 

“What a flatterer!” laughed the first 
speaker. 

She was a tall, bright-eyed, energetic girl 
of fourteen, with wiry black hair and bony 
elbows. She wore a gay blue frock in the 
newest summer style, and a glittering string 
of glass beads to match. 


9 


10 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ Captain Jim’s just fishing! ” she de¬ 
clared. 

“ But that’s his business, Ethel,” cried the 
girl whom the captain had called Lucille. 

Of the same age as Ethel Merriam, in 
other respects she was a contrast to her com¬ 
panion, with her delicate color, large, grave, 
hazel eyes, and soft, tawny hair. Her pretty 
mauve dress hinted, like Ethel’s, at a holi¬ 
day; but the two girls had joined the old 
sea-captain whom everybody in the little 
town of Carleton knew as “ Captain Jim,” 
at the gate of the schoolhouse. 

“ Well, I thought I was letting my busi¬ 
ness go this morning, like everybody else in 
Carleton,” protested the captain. He 
nodded his white head toward the town, 
which lay on the shores of Hallett Bay, the 
blue harbor that stretched before the school- 
house gate. “ Everybody’s celebrating,—■ 
except you two girls, seems like. Why ain’t 
you inside the schoolhouse here, making a 
racket like all the other young folks in town, 
if my hearing’s still good? ” 


ENCHANTED GROUND 


11 


“We must wait for Miss Page. She told 
us to meet her here. We’re to help her 
specially, with the Memorial Day exercises,” 
explained Lucille with a pretty touch of re¬ 
sponsibility. 

“ She knows how to pick helpers, I’ll say,” 
observed the captain mischievously. 

“There he goes again, Lucille!” cried 
Ethel. “ Captain Jim’s fishing, fishing, un¬ 
til he gets a compliment, too! ” 

“ Think I’d do that at my age? ” The 
captain was truly shocked. 

“ Oh, then you want the truth,” retorted 
Lucille. “ Well, they say it always has to 
come out, so here it is: You’re as young as 
we are, Captain Jim, and you always were! ” 
“Handsome, that is! The best I can 
hand back to you is, that both of you used 
to be lots younger than you are now,” re¬ 
turned the captain with prompt and accept¬ 
able gallantry. “ Don’t try to deny it,—I 
knew you when you were. Haven’t forgot¬ 
ten who taught you to fish off the docks all 
of six or seven years ago, have you? ” 



12 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ Hardly! ” cried Ethel; “ nor who fished 
me out that day I fell overboard-” 

“Nor who saved me from being towed out, 
to sea by a flounder just my size! ” broke in 
Lucille. 

“ Preserved you both for great careers, I 
did,” declared Captain Jim complacently 
and confidently. “ Might need you, some 
day! ” 

Ethel giggled delightedly; but Lucille, 
fixing her clear hazel eyes on the captain 
steadfastly, took the half-jesting remark 
with a seriousness that might have discon¬ 
certed a less wise and experienced person. 

“ Do you really mean that, Captain Jim? 
Do you think we could do something—well 
—wonderful— here, did you mean? You 
didn’t mean here, in Carleton, did you? ” 

Her voice was eager, but it trailed off with 
the tiniest sigh. Ethel frowned faintly. 
Why was Lucille getting one of her whim¬ 
sical fancies at this most inappropriate mo¬ 
ment? But before she could point out with 
her own good practical sense that Captain 



ENCHANTED GROUND 


13 


Jim had made a joke, the captain, follow¬ 
ing the gaze of the clear hazel eyes that had 
left his face to travel restlessly around the 
curve of blue water, returned very quickly 
and kindly: “ Why not here? What’s pret¬ 
tier than that picture of this home town of 
ours, I want to know? And I ought to 
know; I’ve been enough places.” 

Both girls had to smile in agreement, for 
Captain Jim Higgins was certainly the most 
traveled citizen of Carleton. It was only a 
few years since he had retired from his long 
command of a coastwise freighter on the 
Atlantic seaboard, and he was still active as 
a local fisherman, for he was a strong, hearty 
old man, full of energy and interest in life. 
To go fishing with Captain Jim, and listen 
to his famous stories, was a prized treat; and 
his favored friends had numerous chances to 
hear his adventures, for any day his motor- 
boat might be seen coming into Hallett Bay 
with a load of cod or haddock for the big 
Carleton fish-packing plant which loomed 
up in the foreground of the scene from the 


14 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

school gate. Consequently Lucille hesitated 
to differ even reluctantly with such an au¬ 
thority; but in a minute she said shyly; 
“ Carleton is ever so pretty, and I love it. 
But do you know, sometimes when I look 
at it this way, I have such a curious feeling 

about it,—almost as if it wasn’t real-” 

“No? Then where’ve you been ever since 
you were born? ” inquired Ethel. 

Lucille patted her friend’s arm indul¬ 
gently, but insisted on her point. “ I mean, 
sometimes it looks so sound asleep—or 
would 4 spellbound ’ be a better word? And 
I wonder if anything could ever happen 
here—or if I could do anything wonderful 
here. There! Don’t you see what I mean? ” 
A cloud traveling across the bright May 
sky had just at that moment cast a shadow 
over the little town, while out in Hallett 
Bay, and over the surrounding country, the 
deep-blue sea and springtime fields showed 
their brightest tints in the sunshine. In the 
faint shadow all the details of the crescent 
shore stood out clearly. The town looked 



ENCHANTED GROUND 


15 


almost singularly peaceful. To the right 
it stretched across a fine beach; to the left, 
half-way up a low range of hills. Most of 
the houses were white, a few yellow or gray, 
and, with their silvery-shingled roofs, they 
made a charming picture in a charming 
setting, the blue harbor where the founders 
of Carleton had come to anchor two cen¬ 
turies before. 

The houses on the hillside were the largest 
and most substantial. The beach showed 
straggling rows of small cottages, and was 
prolonged into a green headland that ex¬ 
tended far out into the sea, and bore the 
name of Battery Cape. The cape itself was 
bare of houses; but along the dunes beyond 
it were numerous pretty, unpretentious 
homes, set in pleasant gardens. A winding 
white road came from the cape past the 
schoolhouse gate, continued past Carleton 
Green, a small triangle of lawn surrounded 
by old elms, and took its way up the hill¬ 
side. Facing the green stood the gray stone 
town hall, with its tall bell-tower, which, 


16 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

with the exception of a church spire or two, 
was the only structure that rose above the 
low skyline of the town. The sole evidence 
of much industry anywhere was that dark 
pile of the fish-packing plant. This gave 
occupation to many Carleton folk, especially 
those from the many new families which, in 
recent years, had come from neighboring 
parts of the country,—in some cases, from 
other countries,—to settle in the old, con¬ 
servative town that thus afforded them a 
livelihood. 

Off on the wooded hills a cleared field here 
and there showed the faint yellow or green 
of young grain, or, in some meadows, a herd 
of cattle might be seen settling to their 
noonday rest. The whole scene was in re¬ 
pose. There was not a sail in the harbor; 
not a toot of motor-boat or automobile was 
to be heard; the small craft at the docks 
were securely tied to their moorings. In¬ 
deed, Lucille had described Carleton quite 
accurately; it had at the moment the air of 
a town held fast in an enchanter’s spell. 


ENCHANTED GROUND 


17 


where nothing could happen, or young 
energy find any outlet. 

But the cloud traveled onward; and as 
the silvery roofs again reflected the sunshine, 
and a sharp little salt breeze blew up from 
the rippling waves off the cape, Ethel 
nipped her friend deftly on the arm with a 
firm thumb and finger. 

“Lucille Douglas, wake up yourself! 
You’re in a trance. Are you dreaming 
about the cur-r-rse of Carleton, or what? ” 
Lucille returned to earth with a giggle, 
which, however, suddenly stopped. 

“There ain’t any curse!” cried Captain 
Jim stoutly, and, for him, severely. Ethel 
gaped at him, for now it was he who had 
taken a joke seriously. Seeing her amaze¬ 
ment, he added more mildly: “ No, there 
ain’t any; not while the head, hand, and 
heart rule together, I’ll tell the world! ” 

“ There can’t be, then, if Captain Jim 
says so with his favorite pledge,” cried 
Ethel, recovering her lively spirits on the 
rebound. “ Lucille, if you’d been nearer 


18 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

than a thousand miles off, these last two 
minutes, you’d have seen who was coming 
up the road. There’s work waiting for 
you! ” 

“ Well, I’m all ready for it-” 

“ And I’m always ready for it! ” rejoined 
Ethel. 

‘‘Correct, both!” laughed a new voice; 
and the trio at the gate turned to greet a 
slim, girlish person just arriving, whose 
bright, red-gold hair, peeping from beneath 
a dainty little green hat, caught a sunbeam 
and held it. 

“ Oh, Miss Page! ” cried the two girls in 
one breath. “ What must we do first to 
help you? ” 

“ Well,” replied Miss Page, appearing to 
reflect deeply as she felt in a green-leather 
hand-bag, “ I hear sounds in the building 
which seem to hint that boys—and also girls 
—have arrived. Therefore, Ethel, will you 
please take this key, and go in and open my 
locker? You’ll find the tricolor ribbons 
there. Then, will you please look up the 




ENCHANTED GROUND 


19 


boys whose names are marked on the rib¬ 
bons, and give each his? And, Lucille! 
Will you please get the wreaths from the 
principal’s office—tell Mr. Lowrie I asked 
you to take them,—and distribute them to 
the girls on this list? ” 

With key and slip of paper in hand, the 
two girls sped off up the walk to the pic¬ 
turesque, old-fashioned schoolhouse, with its 
clock-tower and yellow wooden-pillared 
porch. Ethel vigorously shooed off an en¬ 
terprising lad who suddenly appeared from 
nowhere, and was eager to bear a hand in 
the difficult task of opening the locker; 
Lucille shook her head at a pretty, light¬ 
haired girl who leaned out of the second- 
story front window, and shrieked a request 
to come right up and hear about the party. 
Both were so intensely in earnest about the 
business in which they were taking an active 
part, as they usually did in all school affairs, 
that the captain laughed indulgently as the 
door banged behind them. 

“ They’re the same sort I knew here forty 


20 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


years ago and more,” he declared. “And 
how’s things with you, Helen? ” 

For Helen Page had lingered to exchange 
a word or two with the old man who had al¬ 
ways been as good a friend to her as he was 
to all the younger Carleton folk. She was 
a Carleton girl, herself; only a few years 
ago, she had been a pupil in this very school. 
And though at that time the captain had 
usually been off on long voyages, while, 
later, she herself had been away at college, 
she had never forgotten Captain Jim. 

Prefacing her answer with the statement 
that the principal had said she needn’t come 
to school too early to-day, as he would be 
there himself with other helpers, and she 
had worked hard on the program, she re¬ 
plied with rather determined cheerfulness: 
“ Things are going pretty well, I think. 
You mean, of course, for our exercises? Yes, 
we got quite a response to our plan to deco¬ 
rate the memorial trees here in the school- 
yard to-day.” 

“ Yours, wasn’t it? I guessed that, you’re 


ENCHANTED GROUND 21 

so fond of entertainments. Well, it’s a fust- 
rate one, I’ll say,” declared Captain Jim, 
cordially. 

“ Do you really think so? ” There was 
the faintest twinkle of mischief in Miss 
Page’s eye. “ It was new -” 

She tantalizingly left the sentence un¬ 
finished; the captain made a noise much 
resembling a grunt. 

“Anything that’ll liven us up some, I’m 
for,” he announced. “ Such a poor parade 
as YJQ had this morning, I never see; very 
few in it, ’most everybody out of step, and 
Judge Trenholm taking mighty little trou¬ 
ble with his speech, seemed to me. But just 
the same, Helen, that speech made me think 
of Ben-” 

Miss Page nodded sympathetically, and 
looked at the old man rather eagerly. 

“ Mainly, I suppose, because it just re¬ 
minded me again of what I always think of 
specially on this day,—that I got him back 
from the war. Not,” reluctantly qualified 
Captain Jim, “ that he’s exactly back, one 




22 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

way. But there! How could he be radio 
operator on a liner, and live in Carleton, 
too?” 

Miss Page nodded gently, but did not 
speak. 

“And I says to myself,” finished the 
captain, “I says: ‘Well, I’m sorry he 
spoke that way, so hasty; he’ll be bound by 
his word. Yet sometimes I can’t blame him 
too much.’ ” 

“ Other people were hasty, too,” mur¬ 
mured Miss Page. 

The captain sighed. 

“ Well,” he said, in a moment, “ I do be¬ 
lieve Judge Trenholm meant well, and of 
course he’d known Ben all his life, but he 
wasn’t just to say smooth-” 

“And certainly you were the one to be 
disappointed, if anybody was,” broke in 
Miss Page, with the severe air of one who 
recommends that other people mind their 
own business. “ Why, you did everything 
to help Ben, not hinder him.” 

“ People must do what they’re suited to 



ENCHANTED GROUND 


23 


do,” declared the captain, stoutly. “ Ben 
always was scientific and right up to the 
minute; he was always set on doing his own 
job fust-rate, but not quite so good at over¬ 
seeing other chaps. Why should he do just 
what I did forty years ago? Shucks, the 
nonsense some folks has got in their heads! ” 

“ I hope he’ll never forget what you did 
for him! ” 

“ He’d be scared stiff if he heard you 
speak so fierce, Helen, long as he’s known 
you, and brave boy as he is! ” teased Cap¬ 
tain Jim. Miss Page smiled herself at the 
unconsciously admonitory teacher’s tone in 
which she had so soberly spoken. “ Well, 
he’s not forgot me yet, anyhow. No, he 
writes his old granddad regularly,—day 
after to-morrow my letter will come, on the 
first of the month. And believe me, Ben 
hasn’t forgotten the rest of Carleton, either. 
If he gets a chance to keep his word about 
coming back, that boy of mine will come! ” 

Miss Page did not look so confident as 
her old friend. In fact, she raised her eye- 


24 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


brows doubtfully, and returned Captain 
Jim’s gentle, steady gaze as if she only 
wished she could agree with him. But the 
fact was that, as she recalled the trouble 
there had been in the little town about Ben 
Porter, the lively young grandson whom the 
captain, late in life, had been called on to 
bring up, she almost gave a shiver of despair. 
She remembered it well; she had been home 
from college on a vacation, at the time. 
Ben had been one of her older playmates 
until he left Carleton, at a very early age, to 
serve in the navy during the war. He had 
liked sea life, and after the war had entered 
the merchant service, making occasional 
happy flying trips home. At first, all Carle- 
ton had watched his career with the greatest 
interest; many a son of the town had become 
a sea-captain, and, especially with one for a 
grandfather, Ben was expected confidently 
to follow tradition. And then he had de¬ 
cided to become a radio man! 

Recollecting the sensation this decision 
had caused, Miss Page found her shiver 


ENCHANTED GROUND 


25 


momentarily broken up by a painful little 
giggle. How absurd people had been over 
what was, to Carleton, a new idea! Those 
few years ago, to many persons in that con¬ 
servative little place, radio was still quite 
experimental, and,—an important point,— 
nobody from Carleton had previously be¬ 
come an operator. 

Ben’s choice of a profession, in fact, was 
criticized too freely for his taste. Miss Page 
remembered well some of the discouraging 
remarks he had repeated to her, remembered 
how she had tried in vain to persuade him 
to make light of them. And it had been 
Judge Trenholm, Carleton’s leading citizen 
and chairman of the town council, who had 
brought things to a head; for he, one day in 
public, had reproached Ben not only with 
being new-fangled, but ungrateful, besides, 
—ungrateful to a grandfather to whom Ben 
was known to be devoted! 

As Ben could not see that it was exactly 
a crime to be new-fangled; as his grand¬ 
father had encouraged him to follow his own 



26 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


bent; and as the judge was, to tell the truth, 
rather disagreeable and officious, as one of 
his age and position might have a tendency 
to be, Ben had not been able to make much 
allowance for him. Had he not been so 
young, he might have remembered that 
Judge Trenholm was never quick to like 
anything new; that he did not care for 
young people, filled, as they were,—said the 
judge,—with conceit and absurd ideas; and 
that the poor old gentleman had lost his only 
son in the war. All Ben saw, at the mo¬ 
ment, was the fact that he was unjustly re¬ 
proached. He had ferociously flung off 
from the judge with the promise, now fa¬ 
mous in Carleton: “ I’m going; I’ll come 
back. Yes, I’ll come back—when this old 
dump of a town comes back! ” 

Miss Page ended her recollections with a 
sigh. She felt sure Ben had safely cut him¬ 
self off forever from the little town where 
life ran on still with such monotony, with so 
little of the progress he himself typified. 
Then a new idea struck her. She suggested 





ENCHANTED GROUND 


27 


hopefully: “ Our Carleton anniversary cele¬ 
bration ought to get under way next week, 
oughtn’t it, Captain Jim? That is, if the 
town council vote to hold one, when they 
meet Tuesday.” 

“ Oh, they will,” replied the captain, con¬ 
fidently. “ We’ve been going along here 
two hundred years—we’ll have to celebrate. 
Folks have been talking about it all spring.” 

“ Yes, a good celebration ought to be very 
popular, and should unite the whole town,” 
said Miss Page, enthusiastically. “ O dear 
me, Captain Jim, look at that clock on the 
schoolhouse tower! It’s twenty minutes of 
twelve, and the procession starts in five 
minutes, while I stand chattering here! 

Well, I’ll see you when we march out- 

Oh! What’s that? ” 

For suddenly, out from the schoolhouse 
floated a loud buzz of voices, then came a 
roar—a fall—excited shrieks. Lucille Doug¬ 
las shot into view at the second-floor front 
window, and beckoned Miss Page violentty, 
just as the latter, with Carleton, captain, 






28 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

and old memories all forgotten, sprang 
through the gate, and, trembling with appre¬ 
hension, dashed up the path to the school- 
house door. 


CHAPTER II 


REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 

When, a few minutes before, Lucille and 
Ethel had entered the high-school room on 
the second floor, the scene had been a buzz 
of talk, as the girls and boys crowded there 
awaited the signal for the procession to start. 

The older students were grouped near the 
window. Conspicuous among them was the 
pretty, fair-haired girl who had called down 
so insistently to Lucille. She had a bright 
and clever face, marred by a somewhat 
spoiled and intolerant expression. Her 
name was Alison Fielding; she was Number 
One in next month’s graduating class, 
though its youngest member. The only 
child of one of the principal families in 
Carleton, with an indulgent, public-spirited 
mother whom she was always quoting, Ali¬ 
son had excellent opportunities, which she 

29 


30 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


had improved, to become a social leader 
among her schoolmates. 

She was very particular about her own 
circle; those around her included all the 
choice spirits of the upper classes, according 
to Alison’s definition of “ choice.” Among 
the younger girls, she much approved of 
Lucille, a neighbor of her own up on the 
hill. The Douglas family had long been 
esteemed in Carleton, where Lucille’s father 
was owner of the News , a paper of more 
than local reputation. Alison’s special 
friend, however, was one of her classmates 
named Mary Townsend, who was now 
standing with her arm linked in the other 
girl’s. 

Mary was quiet, smiling, smooth-haired, 
smooth-mannered. She was never known to 
exaggerate, to get irritated, to show annoy¬ 
ance ; and she always gave the impression of 
having thought carefully before she spoke. 

The rest of Alison’s circle, girls and boys 
perched on the desks near the window and 
chattering together, made up a rather clan- 


REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 31 

nish company, which represented the more 
conservative element in Carleton life. They 
were much pleased with all their ideas and 
opinions, but in this regard they did not 
differ from many of their elders. The 
truth was that, since the growth of the fish¬ 
packing industry in Carleton had brought 
many new people there to live, quite a dif¬ 
ferent type of citizens had sprung up 
alongside those whose families had lived 
longer in the charming old town. The new 
people were intent mainly on getting ahead 
in the world, because so far they had gone 
only a short distance. The older ones had 
gone a long distance, and were very com¬ 
fortable, or else their ancestors had gone a 
long distance, and had made them comfort¬ 
able. They rather resented what they 
termed “ upstarts,” then, and consequently 
Alison’s carefully-selected group tended to 
draw off from the newcomers in the school. 
This was a pity for different reasons, one of 
which was that the latter young people were 
more enterprising. In fact, the only self- 


32 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

starters among the older group were Alison 
and Mary and a couple of the boys. The 
others simply followed their leader, rarely 
expressing an opinion, but nodding agree¬ 
ment to authoritative pronouncements. 

A shriek of admiration went up all over 
the room as Lucille and Ethel came in,— 
Lucille with her pile of green wreaths, Ethel 
with long, fluttering tricolor ribbons over 
her arm. Ignoring pressing requests to be 
favored, the two girls set right to work, and 
dealt out the honors in strict order. 

“ Robert Mason! ” called out Ethel, 
glancing at the name-tag on her first ribbon. 
“Where is he? Smarty! Come and get 
your ribbon.” 

A small, solemn boy of twelve stalked 
gravely forward and held out his hand for 
the tricolor. 

“ This is to tie your partner’s wreath to 
the first tree, you know,” explained Ethel; 
“ the directions are on the tag.” 

The small boy gave a stately nod, and re¬ 
turned to his previous occupation of doing 


REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 


33 


solitary guard-duty over a large drum re¬ 
posing on the floor in one corner of the 
room. 

The group by the window, waiting im¬ 
patiently to hear their own names, stared 
balefully at this child. He was, indeed, 
somewhat calculated to arrest the eye. Very 
large, round, black-rimmed spectacles dis¬ 
torted his expression so curiously that it was 
never possible to know exactly how much 
Robert Mason saw, or just what he thought. 
Robert now proceeded with great precision 
to pin his tricolor ribbon across his plain 
white sweater, which bore no such “ C ” as 
decorated those of the more athletic students 
present, but merely a small silver medal. 
He produced pins for the purpose from a 
neat green paper in his pocket, and fastened 
the ribbon from his right shoulder to his left 
hip, very smoothly. 

The watchers by the window exchanged 
glances of disdain, and then the tallest one 
of them gave evidence, by means of a lofty 
scowl, that things could not go on like this 


34 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


any longer. He was a stalwart boy, whose 
fine appearance was enhanced by careful 
dressing and a markedly superior manner. 
Randolph Burnham—that was his name— 
bore the nickname of Ginger. Unkind tra¬ 
dition said the reference was to his hair in 
its true state, dusty-brown, wiry, and strag¬ 
gling as ginger-root, but Randolph pre¬ 
ferred that it should be taken as referring 
to his character, especially as nowadays a 
powerful liquid forced the truculent hair to 
conform to its owner’s always rigid ideals 
of correctness and beauty. In this charac¬ 
ter, therefore, Randolph proceeded now to 
action. 

“ Come here, Smarty Mason! ” he ordered, 
sharply. 

“ What do you want, Ginger? ” inquired 
the spectacled lad. 

“ I said, come here.” 

“ I said, what do you want? ” 

“ O my goodness!” murmured Lucille 
to the girl to whom she was at this moment 
handing a wreath. “ There those two go 


REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 


35 


again! I do think that everlasting scrapping 
is so tiresome.” 

Bickering and quarreling, indeed, were so 
far from Lucille’s nature, as they were also 
from the natures of her own numerous 
friends among the younger students of the 
high school, that the only reaction they 
aroused in her was the desire to get out of 
the way. As usual, she now simply shrugged 
her shoulders, and moved slightly away from 
the sparring. 

“ What do you mean,”—Ginger was vary¬ 
ing the dialogue,—“ fixing yourself all up 
like a Maypole on Memorial Day? It’s not 
respectful! ” 

“Certainly is not!” buzzed his friends 
approvingly. “ It’s disrespectful! ” 

“ I’m surprised at you, Smarty,” said 
Ginger, gravely, “ fixing yourself all up like 
a Maypole on Memorial Day. Take that 
ribbon off.” 

“ I will not,” announced Smarty, with 
fierce truculence. 


“ Then I’ll make you.” 


36 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ You will not! ” 

Ginger stepped forward. Smarty theat¬ 
rically folded his arms across his bosom. 

“ Come on! ” he invited. “ I dare you to 
touch my official ribbon! ” 

Ginger came on, but not very fast, evi¬ 
dently feeling a sense of prudence. 

“ Yeah, it’s official. You didn’t think 
of that, but I did!” scoffingly observed 
Smarty. “ And I specially invented this 
way to wear it, so’s it’ll stay nice and smooth 
and not be all mashed up before the exer¬ 
cises, like Tom Phillips’s! ” 

Tom, a slim, pleasant-looking lad on the 
desk next that just vacated by Ginger, 
looked faintly uncomfortable on being thus 
dragged into the limelight by an accusing 
small child. He was the boy who had come 
skipping across the school-yard to offer to 
help Ethel open Miss Page’s locker; he loved 
to be in everything that was going on, so 
perhaps it was enthusiasm, not carelessness, 
that had caused him to crush the ribbon 
Ethel had handed him during the Ginger- 


REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 


37 


Smarty dialogue, most patriotically against 
his heart via a breast-pocket. He was the 
only member of the group by the window 
who had received a ribbon, and none of them, 
as it chanced, had wreaths. 

“ And who says it’s disrespectful to wear 
a ribbon this way? ” proceeded Smarty, in¬ 
quiringly. “ I know what you’ll say, Gin¬ 
ger Burnham: you’ll say, 4 Everybody! ’ 
Yeah! Who’s everybody? Huh? If every¬ 
body knows so much, why doesn’t anybody 
know this ribbon’s official, huh? Why 
don’t-” 

“ Of course nobody knows as much as 
Smarty! ” sniffed Alison, generously coming 
to Ginger’s relief. 44 Nobody talks as much, 
anyway! ” 

44 And will you look at him wearing his 
history medal!” cried Tom, rallying, too. 
44 Ho—ho! Imagine wearing a medal you 
got for studying! ” 

44 Where’s yours? Home? ” demanded 
Smarty, pointedly enough. 

But his retort was lost in the roar that 



38 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


followed Tom’s jest, for Tom was popular, 
being a good-natured featherbrain, and 
Smarty was too intelligent to suit a rather 
dull-witted majority. The laughter was 
not very kindly; indeed, even Smarty might 
have been feeling uncomfortable, when a 
clear voice was heard to state gayly and in¬ 
cisively, “ The drum-major always wears 
medals! ” 

Lucille had spoken at last, recalling, rather 
cleverly, that Smarty had averted the flat¬ 
ness of a procession without any accompani¬ 
ment,—for there was no school band,—by 
informing the worried Miss Page: “ I can 
beat my drum awful nice—yes’m, I mean, 
very well—and that’ll make the procession 
march awful nice!” He had ungratefully 
been dubbed “ Awful Smarty,” forthwith, 
but he had shown himself much more useful 
than many who criticized his ways. Ginger 
deftly turned the conversation. 

Ethel, one ribbon still hanging over her 
arm, was scanning the room anxiously. He 
laid a questioning finger on the tricolor. 





REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 39 

“ If that ribbon’s official, I want one,” he 
remarked. “ This mine, Ethel? ” 

“ No, Ginger, there’s only one for a class.” 
“ Who gets ours, then? ” 

“ Will Blair. Where is he, do you know? 
Have you seen him? ” 

“ I have not! ” Ginger’s tone was injured, 
as if he should not have been asked that 
question. “ Who chose the people to get 
ribbons and wreaths? ” 

Ethel, ignoring the question, appealed to 
her elder brother, a big, rather shy-looking 
boy in a green-and-yellow “ lumberjack,” 
who was sitting on the window-sill. 

“ Dick, wherever do you suppose Will 
is?” 

Dick jerked an indicating finger at the 
door. A stocky, keen-eyed boy in a much- 
darned navy-blue sweater and old knitted 
blue cap had just come in. He thanked 
Ethel for the ribbon she proffered, took it, 
and seated himself beside Dick. 

“ Who chose the people to get ribbons and 
wreaths?” persisted Ginger, darkly. 


40 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


Alison, with another sniff, again allied 
herself with him. 

“Miss Page, of course,” she murmured; 
“ I do think she has some of the weirdest 
ideas! ” 

Alison was about to explain in detail to 
an especially respectful audience why Miss 
Page’s ideas were weird; for invitations to 
her graduation party, which was to be very 
grand, and a complete mystery until the 
night of its happening, were out that very 
day. But Lucille cruelly cut her short. 

“ Miss Page didn’t choose the people 
to carry the wreaths and ribbons, Alison. 
The class teachers selected them. I took 
around her note asking them to appoint 
students who hadn’t been in other programs 
this year.” 

“ A weird idea, just as I said! ” Alison’s 
eye traveled discontentedly around the 
room. “ My mother said the other day, 
when some one was talking about the anni¬ 
versary celebration we’re going to have, that 
really representative people are the best 


REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 


41 


people to take part in any community 
event! ” 

“ I agree,” declared Ginger, emphatically. 

“ Is that why you wanted a ribbon? ” 
asked Ethel, twinkling. 

Her levity was not much appreciated by 
Ginger or his friends, but at the moment 
attention was drawn from her by a charm¬ 
ing little girl who was coming up the long 
room toward the hall door. She was excep¬ 
tionally graceful, and her big dark eyes were 
serene and serious, though they looked like 
eyes that could dance on occasion, too. Her 
dark curls were dancing, all over her well¬ 
shaped little head; she was most becomingly 
dressed in a simple rose-colored frock. She 
carried a large American flag; and the task 
of holding the staff so it would clear the 
lintel of the doorway, and keep the ends of 
the colors from the floor, completely ab¬ 
sorbed her. 

A curious silence fell over the room. It 

did not speak personal hostility,—Camilla 

% 

Caro, as a matter of fact, was quite a gen- 


42 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

eral favorite among her companions. The 
silence expressed, rather, general disapproval 
of some unpopular state of affairs. The flag 
vanished into the hall. Camilla’s voice,— 
charmingly musical,—was heard assenting 
to a teacher who told her to take the flag on 
down to the door. The teacher glanced into 
the front room, seemed pleased with the 
order prevailing, said that the procession 
would start almost directly, bade the stu¬ 
dents be ready for the signal, and followed 
Camilla. When footsteps had died on the 
stairs, tongues on the second floor were 
loosed. 

“ Will you tell me,” demanded Ginger, 
“ why that girl has to carry that flag to¬ 
day? Is that the best they can do? ” 

“ It does seem to me it’s a pity,” said 
Mary Townsend, speaking for the first time, 
and quite effectively, because of her modera¬ 
tion. “ Some of us that know the most, and 
want to do the most, and have been here the 
longest, don’t seem to get much chance to 
celebrate, do we? One ribbon! O dear! ” 



REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 43 

A rising tide of voices now expressed the 
opinions that it was a perfect outrage, and 
also a shame and the limit; and issued a gen¬ 
eral challenge to beat it, if that should be 
possible. 

“ What’s the matter? ” demanded Ethel, 
puzzled. “ Why shouldn’t Camilla carry 
the flag to-day? ” 

Numerous voices advised her disdainfully, 
and with a rising inflection: 

“ A foreigner? ” 

“ She isn’t,” retorted Ethel indignantly, 
almost as if Camilla’s character was being 
attacked; “ she was born in Carleton-” 

“ But her people! ” shuddered Alison. 

“ They eat spaghetti all the time!” de¬ 
clared Tom. 

“ She isn’t just exactly like a real Ameri¬ 
can, do you think so? ” queried Mary, gently. 

“ This is Memorial Day,” pointed out 
Ginger, sternly, for he had already told 
Smarty the same thing. “ Haven’t you got 
any real patriotic feeling? ” 

“ I certainly have! ” hissed Ethel, turning 



44 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

on the elegant youth sharply. “ What do 
you mean to insinuate by talking to me that 
way? ” 

Now Ginger was not a lad to plan out his 
remarks far ahead; he probably had no very 
clear idea of exactly what he did mean, 
otherwise than to express a general feeling 
of shock over Ethel’s divergence from pub¬ 
lic opinion; and he had a very healthy re¬ 
spect for the powers of self-defense which 
that lively damsel possessed. Taken quite 
unaware, he jumped and stammered; and 
for the third time that morning Alison, who 
certainly seemed to be a faithful friend, came 
to his rescue. 

“ What we all mean,” she snapped, ad¬ 
dressing Ethel, “ is: Do you really think,”— 
she dwelt with awful emphasis on the “ you,” 
—“ that a girl who lives on a truck-farm is 
a representative leader for our procession to¬ 
day? ” 

And now it was Ethel who jumped and 
stammered, for Alison had pierced her 
Achilles heel,—on purpose, Ethel knew. 


REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 


45 


For the Merriams were not originally 
Carleton people, but had moved there when 
Dick and Ethel were tiny children, when 
their father, one of the town’s ablest busi¬ 
ness men, had bought the big fish-packing 
plant. Dick, strong and loyal and intelli¬ 
gent, was accepted by the boys as one of 
themselves; but Ethel, with many of the 
same qualities, had not got on quite so well 
with the girls. She and Lucille Douglas had 
formed a most firm and affectionate friend¬ 
ship, it was true, but many of the other girls 
who were Lucille’s friends kept Ethel some¬ 
what at arm’s length. Perhaps she was too 
able and enthusiastic to suit people not quite 
so gifted; perhaps she showed herself too 
eager to be on close terms with a group of 
young ladies who were very cautious about 
“ outsiders.” At all events, she was still 
outside the charmed circle; and now, alas, hit 
in a tender spot by Alison’s unexpected 
question, she deplorably appeared far from 
her best. 

Ethel had no personal feeling whatever 


46 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


against Camilla’s carrying the flag at any 
time; but she was so eager not to affront, in 
any way, the crowd of which she longed to 
be an acknowledged member, that her moral 
courage failed her,—failed her for one in¬ 
stant, and then it was too late. She hesi¬ 
tated, and saw she was lost, for the crowd 
began to smile. Ethel turned bright red and 
choked; and Lucille perceived, not without 
a sense of shame, that she certainly could 
have again intervened sooner. 

“ It’s Camilla’s regular turn to carry the 
flag to-day!” she cried vigorously. “ You 
know perfectly well that we take it for the 
salute in alphabetical order, as our turn 
comes.” 

No one except Ethel looked pleased at 
this sensible observation; things had gone too 
far, moreover, for even this bit of wisdom 
to be effective. 

“ Well, they haven’t any business to spoil 
our celebration, just for an old rule,” mut¬ 
tered Ginger. 

“ Especially when we have so few of those 



REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 


47 


in poor dear slow old Carleton! ” protested 
Mary, whimsically. 

Alison sniffed agreement. “ Such a weird 
idea to feature conceited little double-eyed 
nuts, and people who don’t belong-! ” 

“ Listen! ” cried Tom, struck by an idea 
that seemed very bright to him. “ Do you 
suppose the town council will get the 
beach people to run the anniversary cele¬ 
bration? ” 

As the people who lived in the small cot¬ 
tages on the beach had all come recently to 
Carleton, and were the last, probably, to be 
interested in its two hundred years of his¬ 
tory, a ripple of giggles greeted this sally. 
In the midst of the mirth, Tom did have one 
small twinge of regret for his wit. For Will 
Blair, whose presence he had forgotten, was 
glancing soberly out of the window; Will 
lived on the beach because it was the only 
place his family could afford to live, and 
Tom was not a bad-natured boy, though a 
very silly one, and he was sorry if he had 
hurt Will, who was a “ good scout.” He 



48 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


also noticed, somewhat abashed, that Dick 
Merriam, seated beside Will, was scarlet 
with anger, and glaring at his sister; for 
Ethel had actually tittered, and was glanc¬ 
ing hopefully for approval at Alison. 

But Tom’s jest had certainly amused the 
majority present. This majority had 
strong, if entirely vague, ideals of patriotism 
and local pride, and felt that the celebra¬ 
tion, not being sufficiently in their own 
hands, was not in the right hands. 

“ I think we ought to make a protest,” 
declared Alison. 

In a single instant her words had fanned 
the flicker of dissatisfaction to a flame of 
wrath. 

“ I say we take a wreath and some more 
ribbons!” urged Ginger. 

“ No, no,” warned Mary. “ They’re as¬ 
signed; we’d get into trouble-” 

“ Well—the flag’s not assigned! ” 

“ I guess we oughtn’t to take it from 
Camilla; I mean, better not interfere with 
the flag,” suggested Tom, uneasily. 



REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 49 

“ Shucks, we don’t need to take it! We 
can just ask her, nicely, to let one of the 
older girls carry it on this special day.” 

“ I’ll carry it,” offered Alison, anticipat¬ 
ing a similar offer on Mary’s lips. 

“ But if people notice the change-” 

“ For Pete’s sake, Tom Phillips, isn’t that 
what we want ’em to notice? ” demanded 
Ginger. 

Mary intervened gently. “ I’ll sisk Ca¬ 
milla, if you like. I’ll be as nice as I can 
be.” 

As she turned toward the hall, Lucille 
raised her voice and spoke incisively. It was 
all she could do, though she knew she was 
too late. 

“ Are you trying to get everybody into an 
awful mess? ” she demanded of the group 
near the window. Hostile silence answered 
her. She stood her ground alone; Ethel was 
discounted, and the few boys and girls who 
had been listening to the conversation with¬ 
out assenting to it were what was known as 
“ unimportant.” Lucille went on resolutely. 



50 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


bitterly regretting her delay: “ How can we 
change program arrangements, that are 
none of our business, without getting into all 
sorts of trouble? Anyway, there’s nothing 
the matter with them. You don’t want any¬ 
body but yourselves to have a chance, that’s 
what it is! Why, it’s Memorial Day-” 

“ Just the day for people who believe in 
real patriotism to show it!” blazed Alison, 
hurrying on, perhaps so she would not be 
asked what she meant by real patriotism; 
“ so come on, people, let’s get the flag! ” 

“ We’ll explain to Camilla very nicely—” 
began Ginger. 

“ You’ll explain nothing,” announced 
Dick Merriam. 

He was standing squarely beside Lucille, 
having come over, unobserved in the excite¬ 
ment, from the window-sill. Lucille breathed 
a sigh of relief too quickly; for instantly 
words were flying like blows. 

“ Why sha’n’t I explain anything? ” de¬ 
manded Ginger. 

“ I’ll stop you.” 



REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE 51 

“ You will, eh? How? ” 

“ I’ll see that whoever has a right to that 
flag to-day gets that right.” 

“ Well, I’ll see that the right people here 
get their rights! ” 

“ All right. Come on outside—if you 
dare.” 

Ethel flung herself forward frantically. 

“ Dick! Don’t fight, please! What does 
it matter-” 

Dick unceremoniously shoved her aside, 
none too gently. Will Blair tried to seize 
him, and was sent careening into a corner. 
Ginger, panting with wrath, but supported 
by a majority, badly scared as it was be¬ 
ginning to show itself, whisked out of the 
door on Dick’s heels, followed into the 
empty hall by all the other boys in a wild 
stampede. 

Lucille dashed to the window; but before 
she could reach it, there came a crash—a 
silence—Dick’s voice: “ Get up! I want to 
hit you again! ”—scrambling- 

Then, through the frightened groups of 






52 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


girls, a small figure scurried into the room, 
and next instant out burst a long rumble, 
unceasing, ever louder, clearer; and Smarty 
marched out of the door, beating the roll on 
his drum. 

The building reverberated to its rhyth¬ 
mical call as this swept up and down the 
stair-well. When Miss Page dashed trem¬ 
bling into the lower hall, she came face to 
face with Camilla and the flag on the lowest 
step of the stairs, with Smarty and the 
sounding drum half-way up, and the whole 
school most obediently falling in behind. 


CHAPTER III 


BAD AND SAD 

The formation of the procession, indeed, 
was quite suspiciously good. The seven 
couples who were to decorate the trees fol¬ 
lowed directly after the resounding drum, 
the girls with their green wreaths on their 
right arms, the boys with the red, white, 
and blue ribbons streaming over their left 
arms; and at first glance they lent an espe¬ 
cially picturesque appearance to a sedate 
and orderly parade. 

But nobody—actually, nobody—was whis¬ 
pering; faces were curiously pale, except 
two or three that were violently flushed,— 
Ethel’s, for one. Dick Merriam’s eyes glit¬ 
tered strangely, Ginger Burnham’s clothes 
looked remarkably dusty for so neat a 
dresser, and—what was the matter with his 
face? And why did so many of the marchers 

appear to be quivering all over? And what 

53 




54 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


made Mr. Lowrie look so grim? The ex¬ 
change of a whispered word with another 
teacher did not reassure Miss Page regard¬ 
ing the prospects of the program over which 
she had labored so faithfully. 

Out in the yard the school took up posi¬ 
tion in a charming setting for the celebra¬ 
tion. Along the fence which divided the 
school grounds from the highway, seven 
young trees had been planted; their luxu¬ 
riant foliage was fluttering bravely in the 
salt breeze. Around their roots the wind 
ruffled the circle-shaped, silver-lined leaves 
of budding nasturtiums, and the little 
wrought-iron fence that protected each 
sapling bore a freshly polished bronze name¬ 
plate, over which sunshine and shadow were 
rhythmically playing. 

To a final command from the drum, the 
boys and girls lined up in double rank, fac¬ 
ing the trees. No doubt, before they got 
there, probably before they were out of the 
building, a realization of the bad spirit which 
had brought such havoc on them almost in 


BAD AND SAD 


55 


an instant, had presented itself as a shock 
to most of them. But how far selfishness 
and intolerance had led them one and all to 
forget themselves and the occasion they were 
commemorating was borne in on them as 
they stood looking at the trees planted in 
honor of seven Carleton schoolboys of long 
ago whose patriotism had certainly been 
unified and effective. A sense of shock began 
to give place to a sense of shame, and many 
an anxious glance was cast across the fence, 
to see if, among the number of spectators 
who had now joined Captain Jim, any re¬ 
port of events up-stairs had as yet spread. 

Among these spectators was a figure 
which did not decrease the general uneasi¬ 
ness. it was that of a very tall, upright, 
austere-looking elderly man, who was stand¬ 
ing in the road quite apart from everybody 
else, and watching proceedings with a very 
sharp eye. This elderly man was Judge 
Trenholm himself, and if he did not like 
young people, neither, alas, did they like 
him. A good many of them now felt that 


56 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


perhaps his presence was the crowning touch 
to a pretty bad start toward a finish that 
quite possibly would be worse. 

Mr. Lowrie may have felt apprehensive 
himself. With a warning determination 
quite unlike his usual encouraging warmth, 
he nodded briskly to Mary Townsend. She 
was the school song-leader, and the nod was 
the signal for her to start the chorus which 
was to open the simple program. The pro¬ 
gram consisted of only three numbers, and 
the decoration of the trees, and doubtless 
Mr. Lowrie thought that there was a good 
chance, at least, that Mary, so invariably 
self-possessed, could start things right. His 
glance in her direction had showed that he 
relied on her. 

To do her justice, she made a special ef¬ 
fort to begin well. She had a clear, full 
voice, not particularly expressive, but pos¬ 
sessing almost perfect pitch, and she should 
have been just the person for the emergency. 
She parted her lips at once, and began the 
easy, familiar music of “ America.” At the 


BAD AND SAD 


57 


end of three bars it was perfectly evident 
that no one would finish the song, unless the 
school suddenly produced some hitherto 
hidden operatic soprano. 

The imperturbable Mary had, in fact, 
suffered an attack of nerves. For the first 
time in her life she had pitched a chorus in 
an impossibly high key. One after one, her 
comrades were forced to leave her, although 
she herself kept bravely on, disturbed as she 
was. She felt, no doubt, that for her to 
break down would be to make things even 
worse than they already were, and her be¬ 
havior was gallant, if futile. Her com¬ 
panions were horror-stricken, the audience in 
the road gaped and then looked scandalized; 
faint titters could be heard as the chorus 

got thinner, squeakier- 

“ George Anderson,” mercifully an¬ 
nounced Mr. Lowrie in loud accents, sav¬ 
ing Mary from collapse just in time, “ will 
speak on ‘ The Meaning of Our Exercises.’ ” 
A wave of relief swept over the whole 
scene, as George, a matter-of-fact, stout- 



58 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


hearted lad with the taste, for once most ac¬ 
ceptable, for making speeches, stepped for¬ 
ward confidently. 

George possessed two desirable qualities 
for an orator: one was a resonant voice, the 
other a pleasing ease of manner, from which 
self-consciousness was wholly absent. He 
began readily: 

“Friends and comrades! The meaning 
of this day itself is already well appreciated 
by all of us, so it is not on that that I would 
speak; it is, rather, on this -" 

He flung out the demonstrative pronoun 
with such emphasis that startled glances 
were cast in many directions to see where 
“this” was actually materializing; and be¬ 
fore recovery could be made from the second 
shock of finding it nowhere, he had drawn a 
full breath, and resumed. 

“ I would explain,” proclaimed George, 
in deep, resounding accents, “ the special 
meaning of the decoration of these trees. 
They are a monument—a memorial —a 
COMMEMORATION-” 




BAD AND SAD 


59 


The listeners, even the most distant, 
stood agape with horror and apprehension. 
George’s voice swelled and swelled, and 
sank and sank. All that he said was excel¬ 
lent, and he said it with the sincerest feel¬ 
ing; but obviously he had not an idea that 
he was speaking in any louder tone than 
usual, though the ear-drums of his audience 
were on the verge of cracking. He was not 
a large boy; but his voice grew so enormous 
that everybody was wondering, half-hys- 
terically, where on earth it all came from, 
and if it wasn’t going to do him some ter¬ 
rible injury, when, with a final burst of 
speed and noise, he came to his last period. 
As he stepped back to his place in the ranks, 
a wave of relief infinitely heartier than that 
which had greeted his beginning, hailed his 
conclusion. 

“ Gee! ” whispered George to his neigh¬ 
bors, wholly unconscious of his deficiencies; 
“I was fearfully nervous, somehow; but I 
wouldn’t show it! ” 

Mr. Lowrie, looking rather limp, perhaps 


60 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

also for some obscure reason, made his next 
announcement. 

“ Mildred Wrenn will recite a set of 
verses entitled: ‘ The Patriot Flower.’ ” 

Mildred stepped forward, a bright, at¬ 
tractive little red-headed girl. She was a 
classmate of Lucille’s and Ethel’s, and such 
a general favorite that even the worst people 
present, let alone the best, noted with grave 
concern that she looked quite unlike her 
usual self. 

The truth was that Mildred usually re¬ 
cited very well because she was sensitive and 
intelligent; but now, these two qualities 
were handicapping her. She understood 
only too well, and felt only too keenly, the 
bitterness, the bad spirit, that had led to so 
many hard words and even to blows, up¬ 
stairs; she knew it was shame which had so 
shaken everybody that the program down 
here was nearly ruined. Her nerves were 
by no means equal to George’s, nor her 
nerve to Mary’s. Her voice trembled dis¬ 
tressingly as she began: 


BAD AND SAD 


61 


“ Shall I tell you why nasturtiums flame 
Everywhere where heroes are recalled? 

Shall I tell the meaning of their name-” 

Alas, it was fated that Mildred should tell 
nothing at all! Suddenly, and awfully, she 
went all to pieces. Her voice stopped short, 
her head dropped; then she jerked it up with 
a wild glance, caught sight of the path to 
the schoolhouse, and took flight up it as if 
a whole tribe of Indian warriors were hot on 
her trail! 

It was the climax to a most startling per¬ 
formance. Mr. Lowrie took command of 
his nerve-shaken company with a sternness 
for which everybody present was most de¬ 
voutly grateful. 

“ The bearers of the wreaths and ribbons 
will now decorate the trees,” he ordered. 
44 Girls, take your stations in front of your 
respective trees! Boys, tie the ribbons on 
your partners’ wreaths! Girls, lift the 
wreaths up; boys, cross the ribbons around 
the trees, and tie the wreaths in place. Mind 
what you are doing, all of you.” 



62 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


This last adjuration came as a result of a 
wild jerk bestowed by Will Blair’s luckless 
partner on the wreath she was supposedly 
holding still, which broke one end of the rib¬ 
bon off short. But Will, who was not un¬ 
ready in emergencies, snatched the flutter¬ 
ing end still attached to the wreath, and 
quickly fashioned out of it a sort of sailor’s 
knot, for which he was indebted to long-ago 
instructions from Captain Jim. On the 
whole, the unimportant persons to whom 
most of the decoration had been assigned, 
acquitted themselves creditably, thanks to 
Mr. Lowrie’s repetition of the directions on 
the tags attached to the wreaths and ribbons, 
every detail of which had gone completely 
out of the performers’ minds. The conclu¬ 
sion of the exercises, therefore, was some¬ 
what less dreadful than might have been ex¬ 
pected. The decorators stepped back into 
rank, feeling that perhaps they had saved 
the day after all, for the wreaths and ribbons 
formed a charming line of color against the 
young trees in the sunshine. Next minute 


BAD AND SAD 63 

came welcome orders to march back to the 
place of assembly, and disband. 

But despite the thumps of Smarty’s 
heartening drum, new depression began to 
spread through the ranks. And now, where 
once nobody could speak, nobody could keep 
quiet any longer. 

“ What’s the matter? What’s hap¬ 
pened? ” came anxious whispers, as the pro¬ 
cession wound up-stairs and into the front 
room again. 

And return whispers announced: “ Judge 
Trenholm left! Before we started decorat¬ 
ing, he left! ” 

As ranks broke, whispers became pierc¬ 
ing exclamations. “ Did you see him? ” 
“ Wasn’t he awful! ” “ Well, wasn’t every¬ 
thing awful? ” “ I wonder if he’ll do any¬ 

thing? ” “ What can he do? ” “ Well, I’ll 
say this has been one pretty bad morning.” 
“ Come on, let’s get out! ” 

Certainly no one lingered voluntarily. 
Dick and Ginger lingered some time, it was 
true, but on special pressing invitation from 


64 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


Mr. Lowrie. Everybody sought consola¬ 
tion from disaster far from school; there was 
none there, save, possibly, in some small 
pink envelopes which a number of students 
might have been seen taking from their 
desks, and clutching, as they made off for 
home, as if in them, at least, there was some 
comfort. 

Lucille had one, and she hurried over to 
Ethel, half holding it out. But Ethel, now 
white as a sheet after her fever-flush, was 
looking so extremely queer that Lucille 
slipped Alison’s prized invitation, which was 
what the envelope contained, into her pocket, 
and urged, on the spur of the moment: 
“Come home to lunch with me, do! We 
can stop at your house and get your head- 
band for the party, and we can work on 
them afterwards.” 

“ Thanks so much. I guess I have to go 
and see my aunt this afternoon,” returned 
Ethel, in a strange, far-away voice. “ I 
guess maybe Mother will want me to.” 

The visit didn’t sound very settled. 


BAD AND SAD 65 

Lucille took her troubled friend’s arm affec¬ 
tionately, as they left the building. 

“ Don’t worry about this morning,” she 
whispered; “ boys always scrap and make it 
up. Come on to lunch! ” 

Of course she meant: “ Don’t worry about 
a mistake you made once, because surely 
you’ll never make it again.” Ethel under¬ 
stood that, and saw that Lucille understood 
the shame she now felt, already, over hav¬ 
ing tried so discreditably to curry favor with 

\ 

Alison. But all she did was to shake her 
head dolefully. 

Lucille tried again to cheer her. 

“ Let’s take our work down to Battery 
Cape to-morrow,” she proposed. 

“ It’s too cold to sit outdoors yet,” said 
Ethel hastily. 

“ Oh, nonsense! ” Lucille laughed at the 
silly excuse. 

“ Well, I have outside reading to do in 
the English room.” 

“ Then say you’ll go Monday. Come, 
Ethel, we must get those headbands done. 


66 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


I’d make you go Saturday, but Dad’s tak¬ 
ing me to Hallett for the week-end.” 

“ Oh, is he? ” murmured Ethel, reflec¬ 
tively. “ Well-” 

“ And the party’s just a week off to¬ 
night, you know; you’ve just got your in¬ 
vitation.” Lucille was thoroughly per¬ 
plexed by Ethel’s reluctance. 

“ I know,” assented Ethel. “ Very well, 
I’ll go to Battery Cape on Monday.” 

But she said nothing more all the way up 
the long hill, near the crest of which both 
girls lived in pleasant homes on an elm- 
bordered road overlooking blue Hallett Bay. 
Distressed as she was over the untoward 
events of that bad, sad morning, Lucille 
wisely refrained just then from discussing 
them at all with her friend, who had been 
so unfortunately involved in them. She was 
even more distressed by Ethel’s inexplicably 
queer behavior. But she had to wait four 
whole days longer before any confidences or 
explanations came. 



CHAPTER IV 


ON BATTERY CAPE 

“ You’re lucky to have been away, Lu¬ 
cille,” declared Ethel, still rather morose, 
as the two girls turned down the beach 
road on Monday afternoon. “ I’m glad you 
had a good time; nobody here did. It’s been 
awfully dull, and everybody has been scold¬ 
ing us, and telling us how terribly we acted. 
But do they tell us what to do about it? Not 
that I’ve noticed! ” 

“ It’s very hard to have things like that,” 
admitted Lucille. “ I’m glad Alison’s 
party’s giving us something else to think 
about. Oh, Ethel, my white dress is nearly 
finished; just a little of the silver braid needs 
to be sewed on. I’ve brought a strip of ecru 
net for my headband, and I’m going to sew 
silver beads on it, in a star design. The net, 
you see, won’t show against my hair ; there’ll 

67 


68 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

be just a wreath of stars! What did you 
decide to make, to go with your pink dress? ” 

“ I’ll tell you all about it when we sit 
down,” answered Ethel, fretfully. “ My 
head aches.” 

“ Oh, I’m sorry; we’ll find a nice place in 
the shade,” soothed Lucille, much concerned 
that Ethel should show such amazing indif¬ 
ference to an affair of dress. It seemed 
wholly unnatural. 

A brief silence fell between the two 
friends, until, at the foot of the hill before 
them, they saw a familiar little figure com¬ 
ing down the steps of the small general store 
which was situated at the point where the 
road turned toward the beach. 

“ Why, there’s Camilla Caro,” murmured 
Ethel, surprised. 

“ All dressed up, too,” added Lucille. 
“ Let’s see: she wasn’t at school to-day, was 
she?—or Friday, either? ” 

The graceful little figure in starched blue 
cotton and stiff black shoes waved back at 
the two girls, just as her progress toward 



ON BATTERY CAPE 


69 


them was interrupted. In a small, battered 
white cottage next the store dwelt Carleton’s 
largest and most cheerfully happy-go-lucky 
family, the Hawleys. At this instant four 
of the younger Hawleys, all under eight 
years of age, who had been engaged in mak¬ 
ing super-mud-pies out of what in most 
homes would have been the front lawn, and 
decorating these comestibles with gorgeous 
designs in pop-corn kernels, perceived Ca¬ 
milla passing by. With yells of delight 
that would have made a red Comanche turn 
green with envy, they hurled themselves to¬ 
ward her with one accord. 

“ Camilla, come and see my pie! ” 

“ Camilla, come and see my pie! ” 

“ Camilla, make a boat, make a boat! ” 

“ Camilla, up, up! Up! ” 

The popular passer-by laughed and 
halted. Swinging the importunate Hawley 
aged two off the ground, she produced from 
her pocket a piece of paper of a size guar¬ 
anteed to make a great big boat, and organ¬ 
ized a hand-in-hand procession for a tour 


70 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

of pie inspection, just as Lucille and Ethel 
reached her. 

“ Well, Camilla/’ said Lucille, “ we 
missed you at school. I hope you haven’t 
been sick? ” 

Camilla shook her head with a smile of 
acknowledgment for the inquiry; but it was 
a smile unlike her usual merry one. Nor 
did she, despite denial, look particularly 
well, for her face appeared a trifle thinner, 
and her bright color was several shades paler 
than usual. 

“ Oh, no; I—I just had to stay home,” 
she answered, hesitatingly. 

“ Can we help you make up anything? ” 
offered Ethel, eagerly. 

Camilla, while in the class below that of 
the two girls, was taking an extra course 
with them, so that she might, if possible, 
skip a term; she was planning early to pre¬ 
pare for advanced study in a higher school. 
Usually she was most appreciative of help; 
but now, to Ethel’s offer, she surprisingly 
returned no reply whatever. Her face fell, 



ON BATTERY CAPE 


71 


her eyes sought the ground. Then, as she 
finally sought to stammer something, came 
an interruption most welcome to all three 
girls, alike embarrassed by Camilla’s curious 
behavior. 

Piercing shrieks advised the neighborhood 
that marauding chickens were consuming 
the artistic pop-corn designs on the mud- 
pies ; and Camilla, burden and all, dashed at 
top speed to the pursuit of the invaders and 
the consolation of the artists, leaving con¬ 
versation where it had dropped. 

So Lucille and Ethel proceeded on their 
way, past the scattered cottages on the 
beach, past the long line of pleasant homes 
set picturesquely above the dunes, and on 
down to the very end of Battery Cape, a 
charmingly-situated spot which, though long 
allowed to fall into a neglected condition, 
afforded a delightful resting-place for all 
who wanted a fine view and a breathing- 
spell in the salt breezes. 

This promontory formed the nearest thing 
to a public park that Carleton possessed. It 


72 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


was called Battery Cape because, for over 
seventy years, it had been ornamented with 
five curious, obsolete cannon, presented to 
his native town by some congressman of long 
ago, as interesting war relics. To-day these 
fierce old cannon were esteemed as peace¬ 
ful resting-places, for the wheels of their 
antique wooden carriages had sunk deep 
into the ground, bringing the long black 
barrels so near the grass that one might re¬ 
cline at ease there, and lean comfortably 
against a gun. The five guns were arranged 
in a semicircle, above a gentle depression 
that gave a small natural amphitheatre, 
sloping down to the beach. 

The cape was a favorite haunt of the two 
girls, and they knew how to make themselves 
comfortable there. As usual, they now set¬ 
tled themselves at once against the cannon 
nearest the sea, sheltered from the sun, and 
facing the blue crescent of Hallett Bay, with 
its busy docks just below them. Lucille, 
taking a strip of gauzy stuff and a bunch of 
silver beads from her work-bag, paused a 


ON BATTERY CAPE 


73 


second to give a friendly wave toward one 
of the houses set above the dunes,—a gray 
one, framed in lilac-bushes. Ethel looked 
up inquiringly. 

“ That’s just Robert Mason, over there 
helping his mother in the garden,” explained 
Lucille, untying the string that held the 
beads, and slipping them into an envelope. 

Ethel, looking unaccountably irritable, 
made no preparations whatever for industry. 

“ Why do you always call that child by 
his name? ” she snapped. 

“ I think his nickname’s silly,” returned 
Lucille, threading a needle; “that is, silly 
for him. ‘ Smarty ’—he’s not a smart aleck, 
like some.” 

“ He’s always doing the most outlandish 
things; and he always thinks they’re smart, 
anyhow.” 

“ Well, Ethel, a good many of them are 
smart! He can’t help doing them. I think 
lots of people resent his being brighter than 
they are, so they try to run him down by 
giving him a foolish name,” ventured Lu- 


74 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

cille, not without penetration. “ He can’t 
possibly like it, either.” 

“ I don’t believe it makes any impression 
on him,” denied Ethel. “ Did you hear what 
Tom Phillips said to him? ” 

“No. What was it?” 

“He asked what perpetual motion was; 
and Tom said, ‘ Your tongue! ’ But he goes 
right on talking, just the same.” 

Lucille giggled. 

“ Oh, well! He does more than talk—he’s 
pretty active, I mean.” 

She thought she had saved herself just in 
time; for certainly she had no intention of 
alluding to that previous forlorn Thursday, 
on which Ethel and Ethel’s brother had had 
such disastrous experiences. But Ethel had 
sensed the meaning her friend had meant to 
conceal, and apparently didn’t mind in the 
least. 

“ You’re thinking of those terrible exer¬ 
cises on Memorial Day, aren’t you, Lucille? 
Well, certainly Smarty did more than talk 
that time. Oh, Lucille, wasn’t it awful? 



ON BATTERY CAPE 


75 


And it’s got worse and worse! I’m worried 
just nearly sick about Dick! ” 

So it was coming; Ethel was going to 
talk, at last! 

“ Did Mr. Lowrie scold him much for 
knocking Ginger down? ” ventured Lucille. 

“ Oh, he might have been lots worse,—it 
wasn’t only that. Of course Dick had to 
admit that he lost his head, and shouldn’t 
have started anything in the school build¬ 
ing, and with girls there. But Mr. Lowrie 
did say he saw that Dick felt he was defend¬ 
ing democratic principles; and I guess he 
scared Ginger nearly into spasms for trying 
to interfere with the program. Of course 
Ginger was furious at Alison; she really 
started the whole trouble, and Mary helped 
her, but Ginger couldn’t say a word about 
them, and they weren’t caught. But Dick 
can’t get over the way nearly everybody 
backed Ginger.” 

“ That was the worst thing,” agreed Lu¬ 
cille, soberly. “ Those people just assumed 
that they had more rights than anybody 



76 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


else because they’re a little more prominent; 
so they thought they could dictate to every¬ 
body else.” 

“ And,” continued Ethel, returning to 
Dick, “ he told Dad that this place was the 
worst hole on earth! And he has talked 
about Ben Porter,—you know, Captain 
Jim’s grandson who never comes home any 
more,—and how he had to go away to suc¬ 
ceed, until, positively, I wonder if he’s go¬ 
ing to run away himself! And oh, Lucille, 
» \ 

he’ll hardly speak to me! ” 

Lucille felt distressed, but scarcely knew 
what to say; she realized, as she saw Ethel 
did, also, that that instant of hesitation when 
Ethel refused to insist on Camilla’s rights 
for the sake of currying favor with Alison’s 
crowd, had shaken Dick’s confidence, had 
perhaps added to his disrespect for the town 
where he had his home. And now Ethel’s 
eyes began to fill; her head went down on 
the long black cannon beside her. Worse 
was coming! 

In vain did Lucille seek to comfort her, 


ON BATTERY CAPE 


77 


urge her to tell what was the matter, and 
point out that she could speak freely, for 
they were all alone; even the gardeners in 
the lilac-yard had now gone indoors. Ethel 
wept disconsolately for a long time, before 
she finally blurted out, with a heartrending 
sob that showed the depths of a terrible 
personal wound: “ Oh, Lucille! Alison 
hasn’t invited me to her party, after all! ” 

“ Ethel! It’s impossible! ” 

Lucille sank back in consternation. Then 
this was why Ethel wasn’t making a head- 
band, this was why she had been so dread¬ 
fully blue! And Alison had said publicly, 
often, that the whole school crowd was to be 
invited. 

“ It’s what happened,” Ethel was saying, 
dully. “You know she put the notes into 
the desks on Thursday morning, but we 
were busy distributing the wreaths and rib¬ 
bons, so you didn’t get yours until after the 
program. And I saw you taking yours out, 
and I saw the other people that had theirs, 
so I went to get mine, and there was none. 


78 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


And Alison hasn’t spoken to me since that 
morning.” 

“ Then at least she’s ashamed of herself! ” 
cried Lucille, wrathfully. “ The idea of go¬ 
ing back on her word that way! ” 

“ It’s my own fault,” said Ethel, with a 
clear-sightedness that was almost discon¬ 
certing. “ If I had stood up to her about 
Camilla, she’d have respected me. But she 
saw I was a snob, and she’s one herself, so 
she took it out on me! ” 

“ Why didn’t you tell me sooner? ” 

“ I wanted you to have a good time plan¬ 
ning to go.” 

“ I don’t want to go if you’re not going! ” 
cried Lucille, as deeply touched by Ethel’s 
considerate affection as she was vexed by 
Alison’s slight. “ It’s the meanest thing I 
ever heard of. I don’t care if I have ac¬ 
cepted. I shall ask Mother how to get out 
of going! ” 

“ Don’t,” advised Ethel, with such experi¬ 
enced prudence that Lucille giggled in the 
midst of her woe. 


ON BATTERY CAPE 


79 


Perhaps Ethel, too, felt relief after tell¬ 
ing her troubles to sympathetic ears. Her 
eyes finally showed a watery twinkle, too. 

“ Of course you must go, Lucille,” she 
said, earnestly. “ I wanted you to, all 
along. What earthly good would it do if 
you stayed away? It would just make more 
feeling, and there’s enough anyhow.” 

Lucille had to admit to herself that Ethel 
was sensible, and, as a mute sign of assent, 
reluctantly resumed work on her silver stars. 

“ Well, if it really could make things any 
better, I shouldn’t mind going,” she said; 
“ but it does seem to me that there has been 
absolutely no end of trouble in this town 
since last Thursday. I was hoping maybe it 
was over, and it just seems to get worse, 
what with all you’ve told me this afternoon. 
And I thought Camilla looked awfully 
queer, didn’t you? I wonder if something 
more is going to happen? What in the 
world are we coming to, Ethel? ” 

“I’m afraid that’s more than I can tell 
you,” said Ethel, mournfully, but sitting up 


80 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

with sudden briskness. “ But look and see 
what’s coming to us! Smarty Mason, upon 
my word,—and will you look at him! ” 

Up from the road, indeed, Smarty him¬ 
self was marching, bearing carefully in both 
hands a familiar and much-esteemed object 
of art,—at least, of culinary art: that de¬ 
lightful edible known among all the younger 
set in Carleton as a double hot dog. What 
could be in the wind? 


CHAPTER V 


THE SILVER PLAQUE 

S marty bore down on the girls genially. 

“Hello!” was his greeting. “Have 
some? ” 

“Why, how generous you are!” cried 
Lucille, delighted and surprised at this mark 
of favor from the usually exclusive Robert. 

The double hot dog, indeed, was a some¬ 
what expensive treat. It had been so named 
by the younger set in Carleton as a recogni¬ 
tion of the liberality of a popular vendor 
named Joe, who kept a stand near the store 
on the beach road. A regular-sized hot dog 
cost ten cents, but for fifteen Joe would 
make his younger patrons one three-quarters 
larger; he did not extend this privilege to 
grown-ups. 

“ My mother,” explained Smarty, neatly 

81 


82 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


breaking the sandwich into three equal parts, 
“ gave me the fifteen cents for helping her 
in the garden.” 

He settled himself comfortably against 
one of the adjacent cannon, and began to 
munch. 

“ Why did you go and spend it right on 
us? ” asked Ethel, taking an appreciative 
bite. 

“ I was sorry for you,” replied Smarty, 
with grave directness. “ You shouldn’t 
mind about Alison, though. What does she 
matter? She is a horrid girl.” 

Lucille nearly dropped her sandwich. 
Smarty must have seen Ethel in the dol¬ 
drums before he stopped gardening! Ethel 
gave a loud gasp; but humor and curiosity 
kept her from being too much affronted. 

“You fresh child, what do you know 
about Alison? ” she demanded. 

“ I led the procession back up-stairs with 
my drum, and she came running, and snaked 
the pink envelope out of your desk. I saw 
her. She’s an awful horrid girl, I think.” 


THE SILVER PLAQUE 83 

Awful Smarty! Yet a sympathetic soul, 
indeed! Had he not himself been publicly 
classed as a conceited little double-eyed nut? 
Ethel, touched as well as amused, felt 
moved, nevertheless, to suggest to the 
embattled child, though in a tone that 
showed appreciation: “ What’s over is over, 
Robert; and hard thoughts can’t make 
things better, you know.” 

The thick glasses through which the con¬ 
soler saw so effectively glittered with return 
appreciation, as their owner heard his right¬ 
ful name. He became further confidential. 

“ Have you two heard the big news? ” he 
demanded. “ We’re not going to get our 
celebration! ” 

“What? What celebration? Not the 
one for the Carleton anniversary? ” cried 
both girls, so startled that even their in¬ 
formant was satisfied. 

He nodded vigorously. 

“ But why not? ” 

“ Because,” announced Smarty, greatly 
pleased with the sensation h£ was making, 


84 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ the old people think the young ones are a 
lot of frights! ” 

" What ? 33 

“Yes! They’re picking on us something 
terrible! They say we haven’t any manners 
or brains or self-respect. Think of it! ” 

Smarty beamed in modest admiration of 
the achievements of his generation. 

“Will you kindly tell us what you are 
talking about? ” demanded Ethel, desper¬ 
ately. 

Smarty expanded in the luxurious man¬ 
ner of one about to relate a really thrilling 
story. 

“ Well,” he began, “ I had to go to the 
store before I went to Joe’s, to get my 
mother a small can of pimentoes. And 
there were a lot of people there, all buzzing 
away about the town council meeting that 
was held this morning; and it seemed they 
had decided they wouldn’t hold any celebra¬ 
tion of the two-hundredth anniversary. And 
then it turned out that it was Judge Tren- 
holm who had really stopped it! ” 


THE SILVER PLAQUE 85 

“ What! ” cried Lucille. “ Judge Tren- 
holm! I thought he was prouder of the town 
than anybody else.” 

“Well, he stopped it, anyhow. You 
know he came to our exercises, Memorial 
Day; well, they shocked him so awful that 
he left before they were over-” 

“ That’s a fact,” murmured Ethel. 

“ He’d got there during the rumpus up¬ 
stairs ; and he found out all about it; and he 
noticed how terrible Ginger looked, and 
Dick, and everybody, and how badly we 
sang, and recited, and everything. So when 
the council met this morning, they talked 
things over, and most of them agreed with 
him that they couldn’t hold a good celebra¬ 
tion without plenty of young people to take 
part, and that our spirit isn’t the real old 
Carleton spirit, so we couldn’t be relied on 
to make it go off; so they voted down the 
motion to have it. And the vote is final.” 

The faithful reporter paused; and, in¬ 
deed, there seemed nothing more for any one 
to say. Wholly disheartened by the collapse 



86 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

of hopes they had shared with every one in 
the town, the trio sat gazing forlornly across 
Battery Cape, with its poor straggling 
grasses, its neglected semicircle of old guns, 
its stray papers and tin cans. Not until a 
few minutes later, when the wind unex¬ 
pectedly turned and brought with it an un¬ 
mistakable whiff of the famous Hallett Bay 
codfish drying in the sun on long tables in 
the field behind the packing-sheds on the 
dock, was the silence broken. Then Ethel 
gave a long, disdainful sniff. 

“ There’s Carleton for you! Nothing but 
codfish! ” 

“ We’d be badly off if it wasn’t for the 
codfish, though,” ventured Lucille mildly; 
“ especially you, Ethel! ” 

Ethel ignored the allusion to her father’s 
good business. 

“For two hundred years,” she pursued 
disparagingly, “ fishermen have been haul¬ 
ing codfish to this town, and there’s no 
reason to doubt that, two hundred years 
from this very afternoon, fishermen will be 


THE SILVER PLAQUE 87 

tearing up to that dock in whatever they use 
then instead of motor-boats, and dumping 
their catch on the scales the way they’re do¬ 
ing this minute! ” 

“ Then there’s something good about poor 
old Carleton after all! ” cried Lucille loyally. 
“ Oh, I do think it’s dreadful not to cele¬ 
brate our founding! Think of all the town’s 
done! Think of the Carleton men in the 
Revolution, and in clipper-ship days, and in 
forty-nine! And the girls and women were 
always just as good as the men! They al¬ 
ways were wonderful teachers and nurses 
and craft-workers—and one of them married 
the minister to France, and one was presi¬ 
dent of a college-” 

“ Dear child,” broke in Ethel impatiently, 
“ everything you have mentioned happened 
at least forty years ago—some of it a hun¬ 
dred and fifty years ago! What modern 
things have we to be proud of, except the 
codfish, perhaps? ” 

“ We sent twenty-four men overseas,” re¬ 
turned Lucille, stoutly. 




88 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ That shows we can do something, if we 
have to, I admit,” said Ethel. “ Well, why 
don’t you go on with the list? ” 

Lucille looked downcast, as she was un¬ 
able to reply. Smarty, who had been listen¬ 
ing attentively, chimed in eagerly, “ It must 
be what Captain Jim says! ” 

“ What are you talking about, Robert? ” 
inquired Lucille, puzzled at this sudden 
switch in the conversation. 

“Why, I met Captain Jim at Joe’s; he 

was drinking ginger ale-” 

“ What does he think about the town- 
council decision? ” interrupted Ethel. 

“ That’s what I’m going to tell you. He 
was very down in the mouth. His grand¬ 
son, Ben Porter, radio man of the Algon¬ 
quin, hasn’t written to him this month,—at 
least, the letter’s three days late, he told me. 
And he was disgusted at the decision, and 
said he thought the old people here were lots 
worse than the young ones! Yes, he did; 
he’s awful old, and can say what he pleases, 
you know. And finally he said to me-” 




THE SILVER PLAQUE 89 

Smarty paused mysteriously, giving the 
impression that the captain had certainly 
spoken to him as man to man. 

“He said to me: ‘I—tell—you’—you 
know the way he talks, so slow and posi¬ 
tive!—‘ I tell you, I’m coming to believe 
it’s true that what this whole town needs, 
if it’s ever going to be itself again, is the 
silver plaque! Yes, sir, I’m coming to be¬ 
lieve that, as sure as the head, hand and 
heart rule together! ’ ” 

The girls looked perplexed. 

“ Well, whatever he means, he believes it,” 
frowned Ethel; “for he always says that 
about the head, hand, and heart when he’s 
in dead earnest, though it sounds like awful 
nonsense to me. But what on earth is the 
silver plaque? ” 

“Oh!” exclaimed Lucille involuntarily. 
On the second mention of the word “ plaque,” 
a flash of intelligence lit her hazel eyes. 

“ Do you know, Lucille? ” asked Smarty. 

“ I believe I’ve heard of it,” she responded 
slowly; “ I think my father must have men- 


90 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

tioned it to me sometime or other. But I 
don’t remember very clearly. Is it a sort of 
town treasure-? ” 

“That’s it!” Smarty’s voice sank to a 
low, thrilling whisper. “ It’s a lost treasure! 
Captain Jim told me about it; he says the 
young folks here don’t know about it, and 
the old ones don’t like to talk about it. Yes; 
the silver plaque that belonged to Carleton 
once was a big flat plate made of solid silver, 
and engraved with the English royal crest, 
and—a codfish! ” 

“A codfish!” echoed Ethel, much im¬ 
pressed. 

Smarty swept on. 

“You see, about a hundred and seventy 
years ago, when this state was still a colony, 
there was a terrible hurricane in the West 
Indies, and the crops on one of the islands 
were entirely destroyed. But a lot of 
Carleton fishermen, hearing of the disaster, 
took down a fleet of boats, loaded with cod¬ 
fish, in such record time that the people of 
the island were saved from famine. So the 



THE SILVER PLAQUE 91 

King of England presented Carleton with 
the silver plaque in recognition of the feat, 
and it’s always been the great town treas¬ 
ure -” 

“But we’ve never seen it!” interrupted 
Ethel. 

“ Of course not; forty years ago it disaj)- 
peared out of its case in the town hall, and 
no one has ever known one single thing 
about it from that day to this! ” 

Lucille’s curiosity was too great for her to 
let Smarty enjoy the effect of his mysterious 
climax very long. 

“ Why,” she inquired, “ does Captain Jim 
say the town needs this silver plaque, 
specially? ” 

“ Because it’s just forty years, you see, 
since the town began to be less prosperous 
than in the old days, and lots of the old 
folks, it seems, are sort of superstitious 
about that. Thev think there was some con- 
nection, the captain says, between the pres¬ 
ence of the plaque and the good old times; 
it’s gone, you see, and so are they.” 



92 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“Well, I don’t see-” began Lucille, 

doubtfully; but she was interrupted. 

“Robert!” called a firm voice through 
the golden air of the late afternoon; 
“ Ro-o-o-bert! ” 

“Ye-e-s’m!” returned Smarty, scram¬ 
bling to his feet. “ That’s my mother,” he 
explained; “ maybe she wants the pimentoes; 
she has five people coming to supper; she 
might want to get the salad started. Good¬ 
bye!” 

Off he bolted across the dunes, toward the 
house among the lilac-bushes, the small can 
of pimentoes bulging from his sweater- 
pocket, and beating rhythmically against his 
hip. 

Lucille laughed heartily, but finished her 
sentence. 

“ I don’t see how an old silver plaque can 
help us! ” 

“To think of Captain Jim being super¬ 
stitious!” cried Ethel. “I do see now, 
though, something I never understood be¬ 
fore. Do you know, Lucille, that story 



THE SILVER PLAQUE 93 

must have been what was in his mind that 
day he was talking to us at the school gate; 
don’t you remember, I suggested that you 
were talking about the cur-r-rse of Carle- 
ton -” 

“ Why, that was nothing but a joke! ” 

“ Of course; I never heard of the plaque 
until now. But he must have thought I was 
alluding to it, and as he declared then that 
there wasn’t any ‘ curse,’ it looks as if maybe 
he felt a little discouraged, after all the fuss 
at the exercises, and his grandson not writ¬ 
ing, and now, as a final blow, no celebra¬ 
tion.” 

Lucille nodded, and looked discouraged, 
herself. 

“ Well,” she said, as if making a final 
effort to be hopeful, “ I don’t see how things 
can get much worse.” 

“ Exactly what I think! ” cried Ethel with 
a hearty vigor that was absolutely startling. 
“You know, Lucille, you can get so sick 
that you’ve either got to die or get well, and 
it looks to me as if that was the state this 



94 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


town of ours is in, as regards the way the 
different kinds of people in it get along. 
Well, certainly there’s no prospect of its 
dying, so, if things have got as bad as they 
can be, they’ve got to get better! ” 

“Sounds logical!” smiled Lucille, not 
entirely convinced, perhaps, but admiring 
Ethel’s healthy optimism. 

“ So,” pursued Ethel, “ it’s come to me— 
I was thinking about all our terrible trou¬ 
bles, and my own, while Smarty was talk¬ 
ing—that what we really need is to start 
fresh, and go ahead. I can’t make anybody 
do that but myself, but it’s what I’ve de¬ 
cided to do. I’ve been foolish; but I’ve had 
a good sharp lesson, and I’m not going to 
stay foolish! ” 

“Ethel, you’re a dear! What are you 
going to do? ” 

“ Start fresh and go straight ahead,” re¬ 
peated Ethel. “ First? Oh, first I shall 
explain my program to Dick, and make 
everything up with him. Then Ill do what¬ 
ever comes next! ” 




THE SILVER PLAQUE 95 

“ I wish I could start fresh, too,” sighed 
Lucille, really envying Ethel her courage 
and energy. “ I’m in a nice, good rut, do 
you know it? Nothing bad happens to me; 
but where do I get? ” 

Ethel, remembering how Lucille had 
hinted something of the sort that other day 
at the school gate, realized that no necessity 
to forge ahead was a real handicap, no spe¬ 
cial opportunity for activity a real cross, to 
her able but rather retiring friend. 

“ Something terribly exciting is going to 
happen to you in three days,” she reminded 
Lucille. “ Certainly I mean the party! I 
believe that ought to jog you out of your 
rut. Why? My dear, we hear on all sides 
that it’s the event of a lifetime! Lucille, 
I’m glad I’m not going! It’ll be good for 
you to charge along under your own steam, 
all alone, and pick up some bright ideas 
without my giant brain to help you. Why 
do I think you’ll pick them up? Dear child, 
if nobody even knows what the party’s to be, 
who can tell what will happen there? ” 


96 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ Do you really think something may? ” 
cried Lucille, delighted, and thrilled by 
Ethel’s fine sportsmanship. 

“Not,” declared Ethel, perversely, 4 4 un¬ 
less you give me one end of that headband 
this minute, and let me help you get it fin¬ 
ished! Unless you look fit to be seen on the 
great occasion, I tremble to think what may 
happen!” 


CHAPTER VI 


FOUR CLUES 

“ If you’d find a treasure rare, 

If to seek one anywhere, 

You would dare: 

“ Come alone on Thursday night, 
When the moon is shining bright, 
Silver-white, 




66 


Up to Hillcrest garden-gate, 

On the very stroke of eight. 
(Don’t be late!) 

Bring your wits, and find a prize 
Which, unseen by careless eyes, 
Hidden lies! ” 


For the last time Lucille laid down Ali¬ 
son’s lyrical pink invitation, and passed her¬ 
self in final review in the mirror, for Thurs¬ 
day evening had arrived. 

Yes, she would do! Each fold of her 
white-tulle skirt, edged with narrow silver- 
tinsel ribbon, stood out a-glitter; her star 

97 


98 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


headband shone, so did the silver buckles on 
her pumps, so, indeed, did her hazel eyes. 
Alone though she would go to the party, she 
had never felt readier for any encounter. 
And what, as Ethel had suggested, might 
not happen that evening? All she could 
guess about the mysterious party was that 
it must consist of some kind of contest, ac¬ 
cording to the invitation. Splendid! Lucille 
snatched up her pink fringed shawl, and 
started in high spirits. 

Out into the moonlight she flashed, after 
an approving family inspection, and up the 
long, silent block to Hillcrest, the pretty 
gray Fielding home. It was set in the 
largest garden in Carleton, and had a beauti¬ 
ful lawn with wide-spreading old trees. As 
Lucille neared the garden-gate, she could 
hear no sound but the beating of her heart, 
and not a soul was in sight. She halted 
obediently at the gate where she had been 
directed to come, and waited, wonderingly 
at first, then apprehensively. 

The dim garden was beautifully festive 


FOUR CLUES 


99 


with Japanese lanterns, and the biggest of 
all of them hung over the gate, making a 
wide pool of light all around it. Suddenly 
in this bright circle appeared a weird and 
terrifying figure, a giant at least eight feet 
high,—or maybe nine or ten, Lucille couldn’t 
have told,—strikingly attired in a black- 
and-white striped coat, long scarlet trousers, 
and a stovepipe hat. He advanced toward 
her impressively, though with a caution 
which hinted at the presence of stilts. Lu¬ 
cille gave a very small shriek, stood her 
ground, and, after a second glance, greeted 
the giant with a giggle. 

“ Goodness, Tom Phillips! What’s all 
this grace and beauty for? ” 

Tom did not admit his identity at all, but, 
doubtless encouraged by the compliment, 
broke forth into poetry. 

“ I am the treasure’s guardian. 

Let me explain to you a plan 
That is arranged to bring to you 
Excitement all the evening through. 

You are to hunt a treasure rare, 

Locked in a chest that holds it—where P ” 




100 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ A treasure-hunt! ” breathed Lucille, the 
nature of the party now breaking in on her. 

Tom merely changed his meter, as he felt 
in a pocket. 

“ Hush! Listen! Hark! List! 

Follow this clue to the great mysteree! 

And the next, and the next, and the next on 
the list; 

Follow the four, and they’ll bring you the 
key! ” 

Out of the pocket came an envelope; it 
was thrust at Lucille, and the giant van¬ 
ished. 

She looked at the envelope under the lan¬ 
tern-light. It was addressed to her. She 
tore it open. Inside there was a tiny slip of 
paper, bearing these words: 

Clue No. 1 

If you’d be encouraged quite, 

And past the worst, 

Simply do the first thing right, 

The right thing first. 

Lucille gaped at these very explicit direc¬ 
tions for quite a full minute before an idea 
as to what they could mean entered her 


* #> • 


FOUR CLUES 


101 


mind. Then she thought of something that 
might be worth trying to do, perhaps aided 
to the decision by ghostly sounds and voices 
now beginning to be heard in various distant 
parts of the dim garden, which seemed to 
make it even less comfortable than it had 
been when she was alone! Up the garden 
walk she scurried, on up the porch steps. 
And lo! her idea was the right one! For the 
door opened before her! 

Into the big foyer bright with lights, 
charmingly decorated with enormous 
bunches and long festoons of daisies, Lucille 
plunged, and straight into Alison’s arms. 
Yet nobody was there besides Alison except 
her mother, and they both seemed extra¬ 
ordinarily glad to see Lucille, even allowing 
for the natural cordiality of hostesses. 

“ At last somebody’s guessed that first 
clue!” cried Alison, in relief. “ Mother 
thought it was too hard to begin with, but 
she let me have my way! ” 

“ Mother seems to have been right, just 
once,” said Mrs. Fielding, smiling at the 


102 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

daughter who so obviously was her mother’s 
pet. 

“ I was right once, too! ” pouted Alison. 
M Here’s Lucille.” 

“ Yes, Lucille, you certainly guessed cor¬ 
rectly,” said Mrs. Fielding. “ All our other 
guests are still in the garden, looking around 
for that first thing to do.” 

“ I was just lucky; I realized I must come 
in and speak to you first,” laughed Lucille, 
“ though, being so excited, I’m sure I didn’t 
do that ‘ first thing ’ very ‘ right ’ ! Then 
are all the clues the same for every¬ 
body? ” 

“ No, not all; the first is,” explained Ali¬ 
son, as she led Lucille to an alcove to take 
off her shawl. “ The others are different, 
but they’re arranged to make crossroads in 
the hunt sometimes, so the contestants meet 
occasionally. Of course the winner’s the 
person who solves all his clues the first.” 

“Flow jolly! Did you write them all, 
Alison? How awfully clever of you! ” cried 
Lucille, glancing about for a mirror. 


FOUR CLUES 


103 


“ Oh, not clever—just some work; I’m 
crazy about writing bad verses, you know,” 
deprecated Alison with unwonted, but not 
unbecoming, modesty. “ You’re all right, 
Lucille; you don’t need a looking-glass. 
How sweet that headband you told me you 
were making has turned out to be!” She 
examined the ornament admiringly, bending 
down Lucille’s head to accommodate her 
own shorter stature. 

“ Start me hunting, start me hunting! ” 
begged Lucille, hearing eager footsteps, at 
this juncture, on the porch. 

Alison snatched up an envelope from a 
near-by table as a dozen boys and girls 
plunged into the foyer, and set up a shriek 
on finding themselves anticipated by Lucille 
in the solution of the first clue; then they 
stared at her curiously, though most amiably. 

“ You all saw her come in, that’s how you 
got the idea! ” Alison teased them, hurrying 
Lucille away from them. “ Hush, not a 
word! No comments at a treasure-hunt! 
You just attend to yourselves; finish the 


104 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


clues you have there. Here, Lucille, take 
this and go ahead.” 

She held out the envelope in her hand, and 
Lucille, withdrawing into a corner, found 
in it 

Clue No. 2 

Now, a rose will lead the way; 

And where are the roses, pray? 

In the garden, certainly, 

Every kind of rose must be! 

Maybe; but there’s just one kind 

Will enable you to find 

Treasure that’s awaiting you; 

Search, and find that hidden clue! 

Right among the flowers, indeed, 

You will find the rose you need. 

This seemed an extremely easy clue to 
solve. Lucille slipped out again at once 
into the garden, where one special corner 
was given up to rose-bushes. She realized 
it would be too early in the summer for any 
confusing number of blossoms; certainly, 


FOUR CLUES 105 

the one that was to lead the way could soon 
be found. 

But she searched in vain; though there 
was enough light from lanterns and moon 
for her to examine the few roses carefully, 
to her astonishment no sign of a clue ap¬ 
peared. At last she realized unwillingly 
that she must have leaped to too hasty a 
conclusion. She repeated the misleading 
clue slowly: 

“ In the garden, certainly, 

Every kind of rose must be. 

Maybe; but there’s just one kind 
Will enable you to find 

Treasure-” 

Lucille thought frantically, much dis¬ 
turbed by the wild screeching of owls up 
among the tree-tops, a noise which always 
particularly rasped her nerves. But she held 
on firmly to a thought that had come to her; 
if the clue didn’t mean what it seemed to, it 
must mean what it didn’t seem to; and in 
that case- 




106 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ Oh-h-h! ” she suddenly exclaimed aloud. 
“ Maybe the rose doesn’t have to be in the 
garden! Of course, there’s the wild-rose 
hedge along by the road.” 

She scurried toward the gate, and hastily 
felt her shivering way along the damp hedge, 
to little purpose. The tiny wild-rose buds 
were shut up tight in the moonlight, secret 
and all, if they held any. Baffled at every 
turn, she once more determinedly repeated 
her clue, down to the very end: 

“ Right among the flowers, indeed, 

You will find the rose you need.” 

“ ‘ Among the flowers,’ ” she repeated, 
looking for them. But grass alone bordered 
the hedge, on road and garden side alike. 
At last the truth dawned on her. 

“ How stupid of me!” thought Lucille. 
“ I guessed it wasn’t a regular rose, and not 
in the garden; well, if it isn’t on the hedge, 
and it is ‘ among the flowers ’-! ” 

She ran up the walk, and into the bright 



FOUR CLUES 


107 


foyer again. She heard laughter, good- 
natured and encouraging, as she came in, 
but she was too intent on her task to heed 
it, or to notice more than that the dining¬ 
room was full of girls and boys, all, appar¬ 
ently, waiting for something. Through 
every vase of daisies, through every armful 
of the gay blossoms massed in the fireplaces; 
every festoon on wall and banister, she 
searched, until, at the very end of the quest, 
in a tiny vase behind a big bowl of daisies 
beside the dining-room door, she spied a 
single wild rose! 

Under the vase that held it, there was a 
third envelope; she snatched it up, and heard 
shouts of congratulation from the dining¬ 
room. 

“ We’d given you up! ” cried Ginger, all 
amiability this evening. “ Three cheers! ” 

“ You started first, and now you’re last,” 
commented Tom, whose outside duties 
seemed to be over, as he was seen now to be 
stalking in and out of the different rooms 
here on the ground floor, with a watchful 


108 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


guardian’s eye on everything. “You must 
catch up on the others, Lucille; they’re all on 
the third clue now. I want that treasure 
found!” 

% 

“ It’s no use to get to the third clue if you 
stay there! ” cried Mary, merrily. “ We’ve 
all been in this dining-room for ages.” 

“Is it the first crossroad? ” inquired 
Lucille. 

“ Yes; maybe it’s the last, too! ” 

Alison burst out laughing, as good- 
natured and high-spirited as were any of 
her guests. 

“ Did you think you were all going to 
have such an easy time? ” she teased. 
“ Cheer up! You’re just learning the art 
of treasure-hunting; all arts, you know, are 
arduous and long! Take example by Lu¬ 
cille, children; she’s one whole clue behind 
you, and is she down-hearted? No! ” 

“ Maybe she will be if she opens her en¬ 
velope,” suggested Ginger, hopefully. 

Amid the shouts which followed this 
graceful hint, Lucille found in the envelope 


FOUR CLUES 


109 


Clue No. 3 

In the darkness, find the sun; 

It will light your lucky star. 

Let this lead you straightway on, 

And you’ll come where treasures are. 

“ Stuck! ” pronounced Tom, having care¬ 
fully surveyed Lucille’s expression as she 
read. 

“No such thing,” denied Lucille stoutly. 
“ There’s just one thing for me to do.” 

“ Bluffer! ” chided Mary. “ That’s true 
for all of us! ” 

“ Then you go ahead, too,” advised Lu¬ 
cille; “ don’t wait for me, please don’t! I’ll 
be back, you know! ” 

The front door closed between her and 
her half-envious but wholly good-humored 
competitors, whom Alison, after many 
would-be helpful hints that got nowhere so 
far as starting seekers on the trail again 
went, finally did galvanize into life by sug¬ 
gesting that every one would have to dance 
and eat sometime in the course of the even¬ 
ing, so why not as soon as possible? 


110 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


The indoor search started again, in fact, 
long before Lucille had more than begun her 
outdoor one. Long did she wander around 
in the darkness looking for a “ sun.” It was 
dark enough, indeed, for one to be visible 
plainly, for even the moon had now gone 
temporarily under a cloud; but nothing like 
the first member of the solar system put in 
an appearance until Lucille was quite dis¬ 
couraged, almost contemplating retreat. It 
was just at that juncture that suddenly, 
above her, the weirdest and most nerve-rack¬ 
ing screech of the evening rang out from 
what had been a dead silence. It was noth¬ 
ing but an owl; but oh, how Lucille longed 
to run for a warm, bright house, and sym¬ 
pathetic society! Nothing but stubborn 
pride held her feet to the ground, made her 
tilt her head casually to see if she could 
glimpse the owl above her. And there, 
above her, she saw- 

Just what she was searching for! 

LIow clever Alison was! There on the 
big lantern on the tree under which Lucille 



FOUR CLUES 


111 


was standing was the sun itself, the round 
red sun of the Japanese flag! And above 
the lantern was a smooth, shining object, 
with something reflected in it—her own 
face! And right above the center of her 
forehead a tiny slip of paper, marked with 
a downward-pointing arrow, had been stuck 
into her headband—doubtless when Alison 
was admiring it. No wonder comments had 
had to be forbidden! The arrow indicated 
the large star in the center of the band, on 
which the “ sun ” shone most brightly. That 
must be the lucky star, and it would lead— 
where? 

Lucille pulled out the slip of paper. Ad¬ 
ventures were promised by 

Clue No. 4 

Straight on, straight on, 

Whate’er befall! 

No dragon fierce, 

No towering wall, 

Can e’er alarm, 

Or yet appall, 

Or block your way 
At all, at all, 


112 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


If all your powers 
You’ll bring indeed 
To find the treasure,— 

You’ll succeed! 

Straight on, as she was facing, toward the 
house! In she ran, and found herself at the 
second gay meeting of the ways. 

This crossroad was the living-room. Be¬ 
yond it was the library. These two rooms 
had originally been one very large one, and 
the present division between them was in¬ 
dicated by book-shelves built out at right 
angles from opposite side-walls. Most of 
the guests Lucille had left languishing be¬ 
hind her had at last reached the living-room, 
and the last two or three came panting in 
on her heels, fourth clue in hand. 

A spirit of intense excitement, and highly 
good-humored rivalry, now prevailed. Each 
of the guests, it appeared, had been through 
the most hair-raising adventures in solving 
his or her third clue. Lucille and her 
screech-owl shared the limelight with a 
shadowy cellar, and a spooky garret, and 


FOUR CLUES 


113 


a long hall where every board in the floor 
squeaked, until Lucille began to suspect that 
that screech-owl must have been very well 
trained to screech right above the very lan¬ 
tern she was looking for! She was rather 
glad she had decided not to run. 

But the tales of adventures quickly gave 
place to curiosity, as the guests looked about 
the living-room. The two bookcases that 
marked off the library had had the gap be¬ 
tween them closed up by large pieces of fur¬ 
niture, while a line of ropes stretched across 
the top of the barrier from side to side of 
the room. This, then, was the “ towering 
wall,” which, it appeared, was mentioned in 
all the fourth clues. 

“ And it’s not to stop you! ” cried Alison. 
“ Go on, this is the last lap! ” 

So Lucille found her dragon, the handle 
of a Chinese jug on top of one of the divid¬ 
ing bookcases, and Mary found the eighth 
book from the left on one of the top shelves, 
and others found bits of hardwood in the 
floor, or figures in the rug, which brought 


114 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


the company up in line before the wall. But 
it could not be scaled. The floor gave no 
suggestion of a way to get under it. 
Through a tiny gap or two, wistful and un¬ 
satisfactory peeps revealed the library 
empty of all furniture save a table and two 
chairs. The table was decorated with a 
prettily embroidered cover hanging to within 
a few inches of the floor, and held a pile of 
gay magazines. One of the chairs held the 
giant, while the other held his stilts, which 
he seemed glad of a chance to rest. 

The library looked in itself so promising 
as a stronghold for treasure that the whole 
company began straightway to argue about 
it, for it appeared that everybody had re¬ 
ceived the same final hint to disregard the 
towering wall. But finally somebody said, 
“ If Tom’s the treasure’s guardian, it’s 
surely there, and he’s guarding it.” 

“He’s guardianing it!” cried the irre¬ 
pressible Tom. “ Good work! Come along, 
folks!” 

“ But how? ” chorused the crowd. 


FOUR CLUES 


115 


“ I never saw anybody so slow as all of 
you are! ” groaned Alison, impatiently. 

“ We certainly are ashamed; we hang our 
heads! ” declared Mary. 

Half the company involuntarily suited 
the action to the word; and next second, 
with one accord, half a dozen had flung 
themselves to the floor! The downward 
glance had given the clue, and Lucille was 
among the number to scoop out, from the 
high bottom section of the bookcase, an 
armful of books, and to scramble through 
the towering wall into the library! 

Then, almost with a shock, came a sudden 
halt. For what was there, in the library, to 
lead on to treasure? Apparently nothing. 
Table, chairs, magazines, giant—here was 
where wits would be needed to find the prize! 

Silence succeeded wild shrieks, as the last 
guest scrambled up from the floor. Sharp 
eyes swept every corner, in vain; and then,— 
Lucille saw something. 

Had somebody just been reading one of 
the magazines, and marked the place with 


116 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

a book-mark? Would it be worth while to 
lose time investigating? She hesitated, she 
took the chance, and she took it, as she had 
to, in a single instant. She leaped forward, 
and snatched the marker; it stuck. She 
jerked it. It gave, the magazines below it 
fell to the floor, so did the table-cover, and 
revealed- 

No table! A wooden chest mounted on 
two stools! And on the marker still in her 
hand was tied a long string, on the end of 
which dangled a tiny brass key! 

The crowd surged around her. “ The 
key, the key to the treasure-chest! Open it, 
open it! Lucille’s won the prize! ” 

“ Oh,” cried Lucille, “ you should have 
got this, Mary! ” 

“ Nonsense, I never once thought of the 
marker! ” declared Mary. “ Open the chest, 
Lucille! Hurry! What does it matter, as 
long as the treasure’s been found, who found 
it?” 

“ It doesn’t matter! ” cried Alison, as 
Lucille fitted the key to the chest, and many 



FOUR CLUES 


117 


willing volunteers helped her raise the heavy 
lid. “You’ll see!” 

Her words were lost in a final wild shriek 
of delight. A fascinating heap of rainbow 
packages was bursting from the chest, each 
labeled with a name! 

“Everybody’s won a prize!” cried Lu¬ 
cille, enchanted with this crowning touch on 
such a pleasant evening of united industry. 
“We forgot—it was only the key, really, to 
which the clues led.” 

“ That’s the idea: rewards for every good 
child that tried, no matter how dumb; and 
honor for the brightest! ” explained Tom, 
diving into the chest and finding a wonder¬ 
ful purple package, which he presented to 
Lucille with a most elegant bow, stilts and 
all. “Ladies and gentlemen! This most 
deserving young woman has shown that she 
understands thoroughly all the best prin¬ 
ciples of hunting treasure! Therefore, on 
future treasure-hunts, let us all follow her, 
if we cannot beat her! ” 


CHAPTER VII 


A NEW ROUND TABLE 

But though Lucille herself did not know 
it that evening, she had reaped a bigger re¬ 
ward from the treasure-hunt than even the 
honor of finding the key. 

The splendid excitement and fun had 
jolted her out of her every-day round of 
thoughts; she seemed brighter and happier 
than she had for a long time, and to Ethel, 
who noticed her improved spirits, she ad¬ 
mitted she felt freshly started for coming 
days. But the real reason for her new 
energy was an idea that had presented itself 
to her the day following the party, when its 
remembrance was freshest with her: an idea 
so amazing, that seemed to turn, of its own 
accord, into such a dazzling plan, that Lu¬ 
cille could just barely command enough 
prudence to let it rest in her mind a few 

days, and prove its worth, before she told it. 

118 


A NEW ROUND TABLE 


119 


Several days after the treasure-hunt, she 
and Ethel were spending another sunny 
afternoon on Battery Cape, this time knit¬ 
ting new sweaters, a blue one for Lucille, a 
green one for Ethel. This was not a lively 
occupation, perhaps; but nothing in Carle- 
ton was lively, just now particularly. In¬ 
deed, the abandonment of the anniversary 
project had cast a sort of blight over the 
town. But though young and old were alike 
disappointed, general opinion was that under 
the circumstances nothing else could have 
been done. 

But Ethel, especially by contrast with 
most other people, now seemed to be more 
energetic and lively than ever, as she sat 
knitting and chattering away; and Lucille, 
after a few minutes, told her so. 

“Oh, I’m going stronger than ever!” 
cried Ethel. “I’m not going to pay any 
attention to other people. Dick and I have 
formed a bond on the subject of no celebra¬ 
tion, you see. He says it’s the last straw, 
and agrees with me that while we’ll do 


120 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


everything possible to improve ourselves and 
everything else, we’ll look elsewhere than in 
this town for thrills.” 

“ Do you know,” ventured Lucille, slowly 
purling away on a long blue row, “ I can’t 
help wondering if you—and, indeed, most of 
us—don’t make a mistake in assuming that 
you’ve got to do that.” 

44 What do you mean? ” 

44 Ethel, do you remember when we were 
here the other day, that you suggested that 
all of us needed a fresh start? ” 

“ I said you and I did.” 

“ Yes, and we’ve each had ours. But you 
said the whole town did, too. Ethel,”— 
Lucille hesitated so long that her friend 
looked up at her curiously,— 44 1 think I’ve 
thought of a way for all us girls and boys, 
at least, to have one! Wouldn’t that be 
thrilling? ” 

44 Where did you ever get such an idea? ” 
cried Ethel. 

Lucille tried to look surprised at the ques¬ 
tion, but only succeeded in looking mis- 




A NEW ROUND TABLE 121 

chievous, as she answered: “ Why, at the 
party, of course. Didn’t you say I would? ” 

“Go along, you can’t tease me!” said 
Ethel. 

“ It’s the truth. Don’t you want to hear 
the idea? ” 

“ I wanted to make you ask me if I didn’t 
want to! I’m just crazy to! ” 

“ Then I’ll tell you-” 

“ Oh, bother, you’ll have to tell Smarty 
Mason, too,” murmured Ethel, glancing to¬ 
ward the road. “ He was away down on the 
beach, headed for home, but he saw us, and 
the attraction was too great. Here he 
comes.” 

“I don’t mind,” declared Lucille; “it 
would be rather good to get two such dif¬ 
ferent opinions on this queer idea of mine.” 

Smarty now bounded down the cape, and 
flung himself on the grass. 

“ Where’ve you been? ” asked Lucille, 
after greetings had been exchanged. 

“ To borrow a book.” 


“ What is it? ” 



122 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ ' Famous Pirate-Fighters / Looks nice, 
doesn’t it? ” 

Smarty displayed a handsome volume, 
well illustrated, and evidently crammed 
with exciting lore. 

“ Where’d you get it? ” inquired Ethel. 

“ Will Blair said I might go to his house 
and borrow it for to-night.” 

“ Will Blair? ” 

“Yes. It isn’t his; it’s from the library 
in Hallett. He goes there every other Sat¬ 
urday to read, because there’s no library 
here; and they let him bring books all the 
way home here, because he’s a responsible 
boy.” 

“ He certainly is,” agreed Lucille. “ He’s 
the best boy to his family I ever saw, with 
his father sick so long, and not able to work 
much even yet, and so many younger chil¬ 
dren.” 

“ It’s a perfect shame he’s so poor,” said 
Ethel. 

“ Well, I’ll tell you one thing, and it’s not 
two,” observed Smarty with an air of vast 


A NEW ROUND TABLE 


123 


experience. “ A boy like Will doesn’t stay 
poor, if you want my opinion.” 

The two girls giggled, and Lucille said: 
“ That’s just what I do want, Robert: your 
opinion, and Ethel’s. I want to ask you 
both what you think of an idea of mine. If 
you think it’s good, tell me; and tell me if 
you don’t think so. I want to know, really, 
because I think maybe it’s a useful idea.” 

“ Go on,” urged the audience. 

“ I think,” began Lucille, “ that every¬ 
body is terribly upset about the trouble 
we’ve made for the town.” 

“We?” Smarty picked her up. 

“ Everybody in school,” said Lucille 
firmly. “ Some people made trouble by do¬ 
ing things, and some by not doing things. I 
see now that keeping away from a fight 
won’t always stop it-” 

“ Neither will getting into one,” observed 
Smarty, the truculent one, pensively. 

“ And so,” smiled Lucille, “ I think it’s 
for us young people to show we’re sorry for 
the bad spirit that has made so many divi- 



124 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


sions, and so much hard feeling, and to show 
it all together.’’ 

“ How could we? ” asked Ethel. 

“We should do something, I think, that 
would prove to the general public that we 
are not quite so terrible as is believed! ” 

“ Yes?” 

“ So I thought this might be a way of 
doing it: we can all get together and cele¬ 
brate our anniversary, as a patriotic demon¬ 
stration.” 

“ But-” 

“ Just wait, both of you. I know the of¬ 
ficial celebration’s off. But the town coun¬ 
cil never said—it couldn’t say—that nobody 
must celebrate-” 

“ No! ” 

“And everybody feels so disappointed —” 

“Yes!” 

“ That if we young people could unite and 
have an unofficial celebration, why wouldn’t 
it be all right? ” 

The brilliance of this really simple idea 
seemed staggering; but certainly Lucille 





A NEW ROUND TABLE 


125 


was not long kept in doubt as to whether 
or not her plan had been favorably received. 

Smarty, with the first breath he could 
manage, gave a long, ecstatic whistle; and 
Ethel gave her friend a frantic hug. 

“ Dear, clever Lucille,” she cried, “ to 
think of being ‘ unofficial ’ ! Why, we all 
are unofficial—we’ll just be natural, and no¬ 
body can stop us! I must say that this time 
you have an idea! ” 

“ How are you going to carry it out? ” 
demanded Smarty, fixing Lucille with fierce 
and flattering attention. “ Have you a 
plan?” 

“ I have.” 

“ Tell it, tell it! ” 

“ Now, just wait a minute, you two im¬ 
patient things!” teased Lucille, casting a 
roving eye over the docks below the cape. 
“ I wanted you to tell me if the idea was 
good. Now, I want some other people, too, 
to tell me if the plan is good! It’s very im¬ 
portant to have all sorts of views on this 
mighty plan. And I see Dick and Will 


126 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


Blair coming in with one of the fishing- 
boats. So, with your permission, I suggest 
inviting them to come up here and form a 
Round Table.” 

“ Oh, Dick’ll be crazy to come! I’ll call 
him,” cried Ethel; and, leaping up on one 
of the long black cannon, she immediately 
directed a piercing summons at a distant 
figure in plaid “ lumberjack ” and hip- 
boots, which was just climbing over the side 
of a motor-boat on to the dock. 

Dick raised his head, saw her, and nodded. 
She shrieked a cheerful and pressing invita¬ 
tion to Will, also, and a second figure, in an 
old blue sweater and knitted cap, and big 
boots, accompanied Dick’s up the hill. As 
the two approached, a fishing-basket slung 
over Will’s shoulder gave out a particularly 
fresh, vigorous odor which suggested that 
he was taking home supper for a large and 
hungry family. 

Dick greeted the girls amiably, and 
hailed Smarty with condescending good- 
humor. 


A NEW ROUND TABLE 127 

“ Hello, girls! Hello, kid! You wanted 
me, Ethel? ” 

“ Lucille wants you both. In fact, she 
wants all four of us.” 

“ What’s up?” 

“ Sit down, and we’ll tell you,” urged 
Lucille. 

Dick obediently bestrode the cannon at 
the end of the semicircle opposite the one 
which was the girls’ favorite, and Will 
leaped up on the central one of the battery, 
which was sunk the most deeply into the 
ground. The five young folks, sitting thus 
in the afternoon sunshine above the dashing 
blue sea, did indeed form a modern type of 
Round Table, as Lucille had quaintly sug¬ 
gested. If they were preparing to go forth 
and do battle for an ideal, they had mem¬ 
bers quite as gallant-looking as were those 
of the original group. 

“ All set, let her go! ” urged Dick. 

Lucille repeated briefly her idea that the 
boys and girls in the town should do some¬ 
thing for it. For the second time this was 


128 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

well received, and she launched forth, en¬ 
couraged by sympathy, on her “ plan ” in 
which one and all were to have a share. 

“ I’ve thought a great deal about this. It 
seems to me that we have enough people in 
the school to get up a pretty good series of 
historical tableaux, showing how fine our 
town really has been, and how different from 
other places. It is, you know,” insisted Lu¬ 
cille, loyally. 

“Sure!” agreed her audience. “That 
ought to make a good show.” 

“ And the idea ought to be popular if it’s 
Lucille’s,” declared Ethel; “after the suc¬ 
cess she had the other night, everybody will 
listen to her. And tableaux aren’t hard to 
do.” 

“We can’t do anything very hard,” ad¬ 
mitted Lucille, with a touch of chagrin. 

“ No,” agreed Dick; “ in fact, Lucille, I 
don’t want to discourage you,—I’m abso¬ 
lutely for this thing, you know,—but ” 

“ But what, Dick? Please do say what 
you think.” 



A NEW ROUND TABLE 


129 


“ Well, there are such a lot of dubs in that 
school, I don’t think you can ever get up a 
show yourself.” 

“ Oh, I never even thought of trying to! ” 
laughed Lucille. “ But I did think of some 
one who would help us, and that’s Miss 
Page.” 

“Surest thing you know!” cried Dick, 
satisfied. 

“ She’ll do it! ” chimed in Will. 

“ After we busted up her other pro¬ 
gram? ” inquired Smarty, doubtfully, with 
cold reason, indeed, if without great tact. 

Lucille hastened to the rescue. 

“ If we’re sorry, and want to do better, 
Miss Page is certainly the last person who 
would refuse to help us,” she declared; 
“ especially as she’s so fond of entertain¬ 
ments, as we know. Now, since we’re all in 
agreement, what about asking her to-mor¬ 
row if we can have some sort of celebra¬ 
tion? ” 

“ Sh-h-h!” 

Dick’s warning came suddenly. His posi- 


130 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

tion commanded the road, and a jerk of his 
head caused four other heads to jerk quickly 
in the same direction. Then they jerked 
back, for Judge Trenholm was pacing 
slowly along the road, stern and solitary. 
In a minute Dick gave another signal, in¬ 
dicating that the judge was now out of ear¬ 
shot. He then said earnestly: “ I didn’t 
mean to interrupt, but we don’t want him to 
hear us talking about any celebration, even 
a little unofficial one, until it’s settled that 
we can have it, do we? He’s the old grouch 
that stopped the original one, remember? ” 

“ And yet,” said Lucille, gently, “ he’s 
our leading citizen; surely he must be proud 
of the town! Father told me just the other 
day that the judge is writing a history of 
Carleton for the State archives—think of 
it!” 

“Yes; he has the only real library in 
town,” rejoined Dick, bitterly, glancing at 
Will and Smarty. For the little boy was 
displaying his pirate book to the big one, to 
show he had it, as agreed. “ And there the 



A NEW ROUND TABLE 


131 


judge sits all day, except when he goes to 
council meetings to say progressive people 
sha’n’t have a chance here! ” 

Lucille, continuing her gentle manner, 
made another effort for peace. 

“ You know,” she remarked, reflectively, 
“ I’ve been wondering about the judge, and 
his queer crossness. Do you suppose he 
could possibly believe in that old town super¬ 
stition -” 

“ About the silver plaque? ” 

“ Why, yes, Dick. I didn’t know you 
knew the story.” 

“ Ethel told me. She says Smarty told 
you and her.” 

“ And I see Will knows, too! ” 

44 Dick told me, Lucille.” 

44 Things get around, don’t they? ” smiled 
Lucille. 

44 They certainly do,” agreed Ethel. 
44 Curiously enough, I’ve heard that plaque 
story mentioned, by other people than our¬ 
selves, at least twice since I heard it for the 
first time the other day. But everybody 



132 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


seems to think it’s rather unpopular, espe¬ 
cially with the older people here.” 

“ I wonder,” mused Lucille, “ if the judge 
really does believe that Carleton lost out 
when it lost its mascot? ” 

“ That’s just what people say,” confirmed 
Ethel. 

“ I think maybe he’s just specially dis¬ 
couraged since he lost his son,” suggested 
Will. 

A brief, respectful silence fell over his 
companions; for they all remembered that 
the school-yard tree next the one marked 
“ Ralph Trenholm ” bore the name of 
“ Henry Blair.” The war, vague and dim 
as it seemed, had left its scar on Will’s 
family. Had his eldest brother lived, Will 
would not have had to face the struggle he 
met so bravely. Perhaps he understood the 
cross old judge better than did his happier 
comrades. 

“ Well, at all events,” declared Lucille in 
a moment, with merry decision, “ we can’t 
wait for the plaque to turn up to start some- 


A NEW ROUND TABLE 


133 


thing in Carleton. Suppose it took forty 
years more! Shall we talk to Miss Page to¬ 
morrow? ” 

“ You girls talk,” decreed Dick. 

“ That would be better,” said Ethel, 
crushingly. 

“ I can talk,” observed Smarty, with over¬ 
whelming truth. 

“ Then, let’s do this,” laughed Ethel. 
“ Let’s all talk up the plan with the other 
girls and boys, and if we find people want 
it, what about Lucille and me seeing Miss 
Page after school? ” 

“ That’s the ticket! ” cried Dick and Will 
and Smarty, and the Round Table session 
was adjourned with loud whoops of triumph. 


CHAPTER VIII 


CONFIDENCES 

When four o’clock struck next after¬ 
noon, Lucille and Ethel had been sitting on 
the stairs outside Miss Page’s door for one 
whole hour. 

No small interest had been expressed 
throughout the school, when Lucille’s idea 
of holding a celebration had been broached. 
There seemed to be a general feeling of re¬ 
lief at the possible prospect of some activity. 
Some of the older students had merety asked 
questions; a few, Alison among them, had 
said nothing whatever; but others, among 
them the enthusiastic Tom, had quite dazed 
Lucille by their praise of her plan, and had 
even received Ethel back into favor because 
she would be an excellent person to accom¬ 
pany Lucille on the visit to Miss Page. So 

altogether the girls felt quite encouraged, 

134 


CONFIDENCES 


135 


and undertook to perform their task of see¬ 
ing Miss Page at the first possible moment. 

But never before had she seemed so busy. 
At dismissal she had rushed to the prin¬ 
cipal’s office, and stayed there a long time. 
Then she had visited another teacher, also a 
long time. Then she had gone straight into 
her own classroom, and shut the door. 

That was now a quarter of an hour ago, 
and the two watchers on the stairs were be¬ 
ginning to wonder if a plan presented so 
late in the day would be very acceptable, 
when the door of the classroom opened 
slowly, and Camilla Caro came out. 

No, was it really Camilla? Could that 
downcast, weeping little girl really be their 
usually merry, vivacious companion? Obliv¬ 
ious of her two astounded comrades on the 
stairs, she hurried down the hall, trying to 
stifle her sobs; and though the girls started 
quickly after her, her footsteps broke into a 
run, and she fled before them down the walk 
to the gate. They stared at each other in 
dismay. 


136 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ She was waiting in Miss Page’s room all 
that time,” said Lucille. 

“ What can have happened? ” puzzled 
Ethel. “ It must be something bad. Do 
you remember the other day, when we met 
her on the road, and she looked so upset 
then, too? ” 

“Yes. I wonder if we ought to see Miss 
Page, now? ” 

“ I think so, Lucille. We promised to. 
It’s our business, and I suppose poor Ca¬ 
milla’s troubles aren’t, really.” 

This time the girls found Miss Page’s 
door open. But what a strange Miss Page 
was correcting papers at the desk—pale and 
sunken-eyed, almost with the sparkle gone 
from her red-gold hair! She looked up 
without even attempting a smile. 

“ Did you forget something? ” she asked. 

Ethel felt it was of great importance to 
present the new matter most interestingly. 

“ No,” she said briskly, “ we’ve been wait¬ 
ing to see you. We’ve something perfectly 
wonderful to tell you! ” 



CONFIDENCES 


137 


Her unquenchable enthusiasm did strike 
a faint answering spark. Miss Page laid 
her pencil down, and invited: “ Very well, 
sit down and tell me.” 

“ Lucille must do that; it’s her idea,” said 
Ethel, loyally. 

“ It’s everybody’s idea now, I guess,” 
smiled Lucille. 44 Maybe you’ve been so 
busy to-day, Miss Page, that you haven’t 
heard that the school would like so much to 
celebrate the Carleton anniversary,—simply 
and informally, of course; but we can’t bear 
to let it pass unnoticed.” 

Miss Page looked grave. 

44 1 did hear some of the older students 
talking about that. I didn’t understand it 
was a general wish throughout the school, 
though. So it’s Lucille’s idea? ” 

44 Yes,” admitted Lucille modestly, 44 and 
so people thought perhaps I could explain it 
to you best, especially if Ethel came along 
to help me.” 

44 Of course,” Ethel helped her out at 
once, 44 we know we can’t get up a celebra- 


138 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

tion all by ourselves; but you can, Miss 
Page.” 

Miss Page’s bewildering gravity changed 
to a smile. 

“Drones must die when Ethel’s around! 
I’m touched and flattered that you should 
want my help. Of course, Mr. Lowrie must 
make the final decision as to whether you 
may hold a celebration or not, but I think 
he’d favor a suitable one, provided there is, 
as you say, a general wish to hold it.” 

“ Nobody could stop him, I hope? ” sug¬ 
gested Ethel, anxiously. 

“No,” smiled Miss Page; “he has full 
authority over such matters in the school. 
Now, let’s hear details of this plan. How 
did you come to think of it, and what do you 
want to do? ” 

The girls explained everything fully. 
Miss Page listened sympathetically, evi¬ 
dently impressed. She liked the idea of 
presenting historical tableaux, and agreed 
that such a program could be presented at¬ 
tractively and without great difficulty in the 


CONFIDENCES 


139 


school assembly-room, and by a small group 
of inexperienced performers. 

“ There’ve been lots of fine suggestions 
for adding to the tableaux,” Ethel told her. 
“ Some people think there ought to be 
speeches with them, explaining them, to 
make them more interesting. And some say, 
why not have appropriate recitations? They 
do want to show they can recite, after all, I 
think! ” 

“ And some of them think it would be a 
good time to organize a school band, for 
there are enough people that play, you 
know, so we could have some music, too,” 
continued Lucille. “ And there really is a 
general wish, Miss Page, to show that we 
can sing choruses, as well as recite!” 

“Oh, listen!” cried Ethel, suddenly 
struck by an idea. “ Why couldn’t we have 
some solos from our best singers, like Ca¬ 
milla Caro, for instance? She has a beauti¬ 
ful voice-” 

She broke off. Almost with a groan, her 
face again as distracted as when the girls 



140 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

had entered the room, Miss Page fell back 
in her chair. 

“ Oh, my dear child,” she sighed, “ Ca¬ 
milla won’t be here for any celebration! 
She’s going to leave school.” 

The girls were thunderstruck. 

“ Leave school? ” they both repeated, 
dazedly. “ But she’s not fourteen yet. 
She’s planning to graduate; not only that, 
but to go on to normal school to take the 
primary teachers’ course. What’s hap¬ 
pened? ” 

Miss Page’s face again had that queer, 
grave expression. She returned: “ You 
know Camilla’s father, don’t you? ” 

The girls nodded. Lucille said: “He 
brings Mother our vegetables—we haven’t 
much garden-space, you know. Such nice 
fresh green stuff as he always has! And 
he’s always so pleasant.” 

“ I like Mr. Caro,” said Miss Page, 
gently; “ I admire him, too. Think, girls! 
He came four thousand miles, alone, with a 
few dollars, to this country, and in a few 


CONFIDENCES 


141 


years he had a nice little home and a good 
business. How many of us could do that? 
Only the brave spirits, I think. But he has 
had a hard life, too. Once he told me that 
he had worked since he was nine years old, 
and never learned even to read and write 
until he attended a free night school in this 
country. None of us can judge everything 
wisely; and I understand how he finds it 
hard to realize that every American girl to¬ 
day needs a very good education. He has 
already given Camilla what must seem like 
a great deal to him. She has fulfilled the 
State requirements; next week she’ll be four¬ 
teen, and can work legally. So her father 
wants her to leave school, and go and work 
in the store, where she can make seven dol¬ 
lars a week.” 

“Work in the store!” cried Ethel, who 
had been listening in fascinated horror. 
“ But she would be the most ideal teacher 
for little children, and if she’d wait a little 
while, she’d make more money teaching, if 
money’s what she wants, than she ever would 


142 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


working in that store. Lucille, don’t you 
remember the Hawleys? Why, Miss Page, 
one day last week Lucille and I met Ca¬ 
milla on the road in front of that terrible 
Hawley house, and the children just ran out 
and mobbed her, they loved her so! Work 
in the store—nonsense! ” 

Lucille made a despairing gesture. 

“ Ethel, she was coming out of that store 
when we first saw her! She was all dressed 
up—she’d been to apply for a position! No 
wonder she seemed to act queerly! ” 

“ Isn’t it a pity,” suggested Miss Page, 
sorrowfully, 44 that some of the people who 
claim to be the very best citizens here have 
actually handicapped a great many little 
children, who won’t have Camilla teach 
them, now? ” 

44 Was it,”—murmured Lucille, pro¬ 
foundly shocked,— 44 oh, it wasn't -” 

44 Yes,” nodded Miss Page, 44 it was the 
trouble over the flag that made Mr. Caro 
change his mind. Camilla had just managed 
to persuade him to let her go on studying; 




CONFIDENCES 


143 


and when he thought that other students 
looked down on her, he decided she’d better 
leave school and make some money. Seven 
dollars a week seems like a great deal to get 
all at once, when you’ve spent years sav¬ 
ing up pennies, Ethel. So Camilla is leav¬ 
ing. And that isn’t all,—or, perhaps, the 
worst.” 

“ What’s worse? ” demanded Ethel, reso¬ 
lutely. 

“ Certainly you two girls can realize what 
bad feeling her leaving under such circum¬ 
stances will create among her parents’ 
friends—the families whom we sometimes 
know as humble, but whose work is what 
largely keeps the town going. We are not 
a united town, alas, and this trouble 
threatens to make division of groups even 
worse.” 

Lucille was speechless with regret, and on 
the verge of tears. Ethel, however, after a 
minute’s reflection, energetically broke the 
silence that followed Miss Page’s conclusion. 

“ I see now why Camilla ran home cry- 


144 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

ing,” she said. “ We saw her when we were 
waiting on the stairs for you, Miss Page. 
We tried to help her, but couldn’t. Of 
course she still wants to go on studying? ” 

“ Oh, yes. But Mr. Lowrie has seen her 
father, so has Camilla’s class teacher, as she 
has just told me; and I have seen her mother, 
who works for mine every week, and none of 
us can do anything for Camilla. I had to 
tell her so.” 

“ When is she going to leave? ” 

“ At the end of this week.” 

Ethel thought a moment. “ Miss Page, 
could you, do you think, possibly persuade 
her father to let her finish the year out? ” 

“ I might; that’s only about three weeks, 
of course.” Miss Page looked rather more 
surprised at the idea than doubtful. “ I 
suppose he might give her that satisfaction, 
if there were any good reason for it.” 

“ Well, I think there is,” declared Ethel. 
“ If Camilla’s here when we have the cele¬ 
bration, and has a very good part,—which, 
of course, she’d deserve, being so pretty and 


CONFIDENCES 


145 


charming and musical,—she’d make a big 
hit, and that would impress her father. He 
might think school was a good thing after 
all, and change his mind again! ” 

“ A shrewd idea! ” commented Miss Page, 
evidently impressed with it. “ Ethel, I be¬ 
lieve I’ll try it. Also, first thing to-morrow, 
I’ll find out if we can have the celebration. 
But don’t expect an answer in a hurry; for, 
if Mr. Lowrie thinks the suggestion’s good, 
he may want time to consider it.” 

“ Oh, we can wait, if we can only have 
it! ” declared Lucille. “ And do you think 
we can? Won’t that be wonderful! ” 

“ It will be wonderful,” replied Miss 
Page, quite seriously, “ only if the celebra¬ 
tion is carried out in the right spirit. Every¬ 
body may want to be a patriot, but every¬ 
body will have to be an unselfish, thought¬ 
ful, tolerant patriot if the undertaking is to 
succeed. Otherwise it will be a complete 
failure.” 

“ I do think,” said Lucille, sincerely, 
“ that there are lots of boys and girls here 



146 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


who want to improve in every way, and help 
the town along, Miss Page.” 

“ I don’t doubt it, my dear; you and 
Ethel represent just such a group. But I 
only want you to remember that such pro¬ 
gressive people must always be prepared for 
opposition from those who are satisfied with 
conditions as they are. You may have to 
work hard to win the opposition over, don’t 
you see? However, I see you two are not 
to be stopped at the start, anyway! Ethel’s 
good, practical suggestion may help to head 
off entirely both Camilla’s threatened dif¬ 
ficulty, and also the bad town situation 
which may arise out of it.” 

44 I’d never have thought of the idea,” de¬ 
clared Ethel, modestly, 44 if Lucille hadn’t 
been so set on us all becoming reformed 
characters! ” 

And at that, as the sweetest crowning 
touch for the afternoon’s exchange of con¬ 
fidences, Miss Page broke out laughing in 
her own gay, hearty manner. 

44 There’s simply no telling where Lucille 


CONFIDENCES 


147 


may end, if she keeps on! ” she cried. 
“ We’ll not expect too plain sailing, then, 
girls, but we will expect to succeed! I will 
do everything I can to help you if the cele¬ 
bration’s approved. I promise! ” 

“ Oh, thank you! ” cried both girls, grate¬ 
fully. “ It’ll have to be a success, if you 
help us! ” 

“Flatterers! Run along! Shoo!” cried 
Miss Page, most ungratefully. “ I’ve 
papers to correct! ” 


CHAPTER IX 


alison’s scheme 

“Have you heard, have you heard the 
news? ” 

Mildred Wrenn, shrieking the question 
excitedly, came tearing down to the school 
gate to meet Lucille, as the latter came in 
after recess the next day. The last time 
Mildred had raced along that path so swiftly 
had been the sad occasion of the tree exer¬ 
cises. But this time her speed was certainly 
due to high spirits, not shaking nerves. 
Something extraordinary must have hap¬ 
pened. 

“ What’s up? ” asked Lucille, who had 
been home to lunch. 

“ Your plan for a celebration is ap¬ 
proved! ” 

“Not already! ” 

“Yes, Mr. Lowrie’s very enthusiastic! 

But he thinks it must be made a worth- 

148 


ALISON’S SCHEME 


149 


while celebration; he wants the scenes and 
recitations and songs made into a pageant, 
and Miss Page says she will help us fix it 
that way.” 

“ Isn’t that gorgeous? ” cried Ethel, dash¬ 
ing up. “ And he wants us to give it on the 
last day of school.” 

“ That’s only three weeks off! ” exclaimed 
Lucille. “ How one little idea can grow in 
no time at all! And does everybody still 
like it? ” 

“ If they don’t, you don’t hear them say 
so,” laughed Ethel. 

“ Won’t it be exciting planning every¬ 
thing,—the scenes, especially, and the- 

Oh, Tom Phillips!” cried Lucille, rebuk- 
ingly, flapping at that light-hearted youth a 
hand she had been flapping vigorously at the 
back of her neck. “ Go away! ” 

For Tom, exhilarated by the good news, 
had crept up behind her a moment or two 
ago, unseen, armed with an early spear of 
timothy-grass, and was tickling her neck 
from behind a tree, in the hope that she 



150 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

might think herself the prey of a most per¬ 
sistent fly. Being invited to depart, he of 
course remained, being favorably inclined to 
her idea, anyway. 

“ Well! Some news! ” observed Tom, ap¬ 
provingly. “ But how’re we going to pull 
it off—a pageant, I mean? That’s what 
these people don’t think of, you know. 
These plays and things have to be written, 
specially if they’re historic; you can’t make 
that kind up out of your head. Where’re we 
going to find out about these historical 
scenes—whether they’re true or not, don’t 
you know? And suppose we can’t think of 
enough, ourselves? Say, listen-” 

“ I don’t know just what else we’re do¬ 
ing,” remarked Ethel, caustically. 

“ Miss Page has some job ahead of her,” 
continued Tom, not discouraged; “ I heard 
her say so, coming out of that meeting the 
teachers had to talk the plan over. She 
didn’t care who heard her. She said: ‘ If I 
only could get the books! But unless I can 
think of some good way to ask Judge Tren- 



ALISON’S SCHEME 151 

holm in the present circumstances 5 - I 

lost the rest. But-” 

“ What was it she said? ” asked several 
voices. 

Tom, in due turn, had been overtaken by 
his own crowd. They—Alison, Ginger, 
Mary, all the rest of the older students— 
had been chatting near by, and now strolled 
over to the gate to see what kept Tom from 
them. He repeated what he had been tell¬ 
ing the three girls. 

“ Well,” said Ethel, with her usual good 
practical sense, “ I see what we can do. It’s 
really quite simple. Why don’t we ask 
Judge Trenholm to help us? ” 

“ What an idea! ” gasped Alison, actually 
surprised into conversation with Ethel once 
more. 

“ What’s the matter with it?” inquired 
Ethel, most politely. 

“ My dear child, don’t you know how 
cross he is, poor old thing? ” intervened 
Mary, gently, before Alison could reply. 
Alison did, indeed, look quite pettish. 




152 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ He’d turn us down flat, if he didn’t fly into 
a rage and eat us alive first, you may be 
quite sure.” 

Even the loquacious Tom, not to mention 
the rest of the older crowd present, seemed 
quite staggered by Ethel’s foolhardiness. 
They merely nodded mutely, in agreement 
with Mary. But Mildred had the sharp, 
lively tongue that so often accompanies a 
gay red head, and she didn’t like Mary, who 
was always so sweet, and she was much 
vexed with Judge Trenholm because it was 
her own breakdown in reciting that had 
caused that fastidious old gentleman to leave 
the tree exercises. She, therefore, rallied to 
Ethel’s aid. 

“ I think it would be fine to ask the 
judge!” she burst out. “His big library 
would be the greatest help to us in choosing 
the pageant scenes, of course. He couldn’t 
possibly refuse to help us! Nonsense! The 
biggest man in town refuse to help a lot of 
us that want to do something patriotic? Do 
talk sense! ” 


ALISON’S SCHEME 153 

“ I’ll ask him,” observed a new voice. 
“ I’m not afraid.” 

“ Well, who’s afraid, Smarty Mason? ” 
demanded Ginger, addressing in strong 
exasperation his spectacled young friend 
who had made his way well into the crowd. 
“ Butting in again, are you, eh? ” 

“ Then if nobody’s afraid, are we going 
to ask him? ” inquired Smarty, placidly. 

“ Listen! I think it would be grand to 
ask him. Some fun, eh?” cried Tom, sud¬ 
denly won to the prospect of such an amus¬ 
ing encounter, and so much probably spar¬ 
kling conversation ensuing from it. “ Why 
don’t we elect a committee on scenes, and 
send it to call on him? Listen! Why can’t 
we have a school meeting this afternoon, and 
elect a committee of, say, six people, and 
arrange for them to call on the judge? ” 

“ He’d refuse to see them,” declared Ali¬ 
son, scornfully. 

“ Not if we ask him the right way,” de¬ 
clared Tom, more and more taken with his 
idea. “ Listen! Let’s ask Miss Page to 


154 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

ask him to see us. She knows him well, and 
he likes her.” 

“ I think that’s a perfectly splendid idea,” 
approved Lucille. 

“ Then come on,” cried Tom, turning in 
her direction from that of his most un¬ 
sympathetic friends, “ and let’s go in and 
find her and Mr. Lowrie and talk to them 
and make arrangements! This is going 
to be some fun! ” 

He darted off, and Lucille and Ethel and 
Mildred, escorted by Smarty, went too. 

Alison, much rebuffed, drew her circle 
closely around her. 

“ Well, I think-” she began. 

“ That Tom Phillips is a nut,” finished 
Ginger, wrathfully. He picked up a small 
feather from the ground, and blew it off 
through the air. “ He’s got just as much 
weight as that! Anywhere he can mix into 
something and 4 make arrangements,’ he’ll 
go, the big chump! Is he loyal to this bunch, 
or anything, I ask you? And as for his idea 
of that committee-” 




ALISON’S SCHEME 


155 


“ That’s a good idea,” interrupted Ali¬ 
son, in turn, firmly, “ provided the right 
people are on the committee-” 

“ Oh, I see! ” A great light broke over 
Ginger. “ If they are, we can take hold of 
things and run the whole show, eh? Well, I 
take back-” 

“No, that’s not it. If the right people 
are on the committee, we can stop the show.” 

“ Stop the show!” cried Ginger, accom¬ 
panied by a chorus of loud gasps. “ What 
do you want to do that for? ” 

“ Because once it gets going, we’ll have 
nothing whatever to say about it. Our 
crowd will be swamped, if everybody in the 
place has a part in the pageant, as will be 
the case. It won’t be a bit representative of 
real Carleton people, so I say we don’t want 
it,” explained Alison with absolute convic¬ 
tion. 

Alison’s friends were used to accepting 
her ideas, for she was the one member of the 
group who had a really good mind and 
whose standing in her work was very high. 




156 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

A number of them, moreover, while rather 
tempted by the allurements of the proposed 
celebration, had secretly shared her fears 
that it would be too all-embracing for the 
best taste. A certain hesitant silence that 
greeted the conclusion of her speech showed 
that it had had some effect, and she followed 
that up at once. 

“ You see, we ought to keep up our 
standards. These new people that are com¬ 
ing into everything can’t possibly under¬ 
stand them. Don’t you believe that? Well, 
then, it’ll be easy enough just to nip this 
celebration right in the bud, and have no 
more trouble. We can just decide who’s to 
be on the committee to visit the judge.” 

“ I see what you mean,” said Ginger; “ we 
can elect ourselves, and then-” 

“How can you be so dumb, Ginger!” 
Alison stamped a small foot with great 
vigor. “ Why, the judge would give us any¬ 
thing! But if we send a committee not to 
his liking, he wouldn’t help them at all, and 
the pageant would be off! ” 



ALISON'S SCHEME 


157 


This strategy was in its way masterly, 
and Alison had a good deal of force. Her 
discontented audience rallied to her, with the 
exception of Ginger, who glanced around 
unhappily until his eye lighted on Mary, 
who had said nothing so far. 

“ What do you think? ” he asked her. 
“ Think it’s better to stop the show than to 
have it and run it? ” 

“ I think certainly we ought to control 
things,” said Mary, with an earnestness that 
was most convincing. “ But how could we 
fix that committee, Alison? That is some¬ 
thing to be thought of.” 

“ Decide what people we want, now, and 
get enough votes to elect them,” answered 
Alison, promptly. “ We’ve a big enough 
majority in the upper school to control the 
meeting. And Tom will preside, of course. 
Mr. Lowrie will tell him to, because he’s such 
a chuckleheaded goose that everybody likes 
him,—I mean, Tom is,—so that, after all, 
ought to help get what we want. Now, 
who’ll we have? ” 



158 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ That dratted little Smarty,” proposed 
Ginger, instantly. 

“ Good idea! The judge won’t like him. 
Let’s have Dick Merriam, too,” suggested 
Alison, perhaps as an olive branch after her 
belligerence. 

Ginger and his friends received this nom¬ 
ination favorably, and then some one sug¬ 
gested that Will Blair was one of the “ new 
ones ” that the judge didn’t think much of, 
either. Then Mary pointed out that it 
would be wise if there were an equal num¬ 
ber of girls on the committee. 

“ And don’t fill it with freaks,” she 
warned; “ if it’s too terrible, it won’t be 
elected. You’ll have to put Lucille Douglas 
on it, or somebody else will; she’s been so 
popular ever since she thought of holding 
the celebration.” 

“ All right.” 

“ And Camilla Caro.” 

“ Oh, no!” 

“ See here, Alison, give somebody else a 
show about running something! ” urged 


ALISON’S SCHEME 


159 


Ginger, restively. “ You’ve got to get this 
ticket in; all the kids will vote for Camilla.” 

“ Certainly,” nodded Mary, with a sweet 
smile at Ginger; “that will bring in the 
other nominees, don’t you see, Alison? ” 

“ Well, the judge won’t like her ” de¬ 
clared Alison. “ And whom shall we have 
for the third girl? ” 

“Why, you, of course!” replied Mary. 
“ Don’t all of you say so? Alison will be 
such a contrast to most of that committee! 
I’m afraid most of them will be embarrassed, 
finding themselves in Judge Trenholm’s 
house; but Alison—well! She doesn’t get 
nervous—much. Of course we must show 
the judge we have some good people here.” 

This was considered a fine plan, with Ali¬ 
son modestly deprecating her abilities. 

“ I’ll just be—well, different,” she an¬ 
nounced. “ The judge will see. Mary, you 
must help me plan what to do. Now, come 
on in, folks, and let’s get votes.” 

So in this obedient and united group of 
friends went, and there found the feather- 



160 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

brained Tom dancing from room to room, 
posting a notice of a meeting to be held 
after dismissal. He was, as had been pre¬ 
dicted, to preside; and he did so duly, and 
very well. And the six names that had been 
selected in the corner of the school-yard 
proved to be the highest six on the ballot, 
for, undistinguished as some of their owners 
were, they all seemed to possess, for some 
reason, numerous friends who had been quite 
willing to vote for them. 

And so Lucille and Camilla and Alison, 
and Dick and Will and Smarty, constituted 
the committee on scenes for the pageant, 
and a proud and pleased committee they 
were. Only after Miss Page came back 
from the telephone with the cheerful mes¬ 
sage: “ Judge Trenholm will meet the com¬ 
mittee on scenes to-morrow afternoon at 
half-past three!” did the responsibility of 
their task occur to them. And then they 
looked at each other, and more than one of 
their comrades looked at all of them, and 
wondered dubiously how this unprecedented 


ALISON’S SCHEME 


161 


scheme of approaching a severe old gentle¬ 
man with such a diverse group of young 
people, to get help on such an important 
matter, was, after all, going to turn out? 


CHAPTER X 


A DRAGON AT HOME 

There was nothing to do, however, but 
go through with the plan. Accordingly the 
next afternoon saw the committee, all ex¬ 
cept Alison, who was to join them on the 
road, climbing slowly up the hill toward the 
judge’s mansion. By this time, from high 
pride they had fallen into a low state of 
depression and gloom, which even Miss 
Page’s presence, insisted on by the whole 
six, could not change into confidence. The 
judge’s reputation was too much. 

It was a relief, therefore, to see, up the 
road, a vigorous figure swinging toward 
them from the top of the bluff, especially as 
it was that of the popular Captain Jim, with 
his binoculars swung around his neck. 

“ Whither away? ” came his hail. 

“ To call on Judge Trenholm!” cried 

Smarty, with a burst of relief, and a realiza- 

162 


A DRAGON AT HOME 


163 


tion that this was quite a striking announce¬ 
ment. 

“Great sea-serpents’ tails!” ejaculated 
the captain. “ How’s that? ” 

“ He invited us! ” 

“ Hey? ” 

“ That’s right! ” 

“ We’re going to have an anniversary 
celebration, at school! ” 

“We are the committee on scenes, and the 
judge is going to help us choose good ones, 
out of his books—we hope! ” 

Not to be outdone by Smarty in making 
sensational announcements were the other 
members of the committee! Captain Jim 
staggered most dramatically, and demanded 
full particulars. 

“ Best news I’ve heard in a month of Sun¬ 
days! ” he declared. “You young folks can 
make us sit up yet,—while the head, the 
hand, and the heart rule together, I’ll say 
you can! Going to let famous old ruins like 
me, for instance, come and see the show? ” 
“Of course!” giggled the committee? 



164 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


quite heartened by the enthusiasm which 
could suggest a production good enough for 
an outside audience. 

“ I’ll be there, then; and I’ll bring along 
these here glasses,”—Captain Jim flourished 
the binoculars,—“ which is all the specs my 
young eyes need, even yet, so’s not to miss 
a thing! ” 

“ Have you been sighting ships from the 
bluff? ” asked Will, who knew the old man’s 
favorite recreation. 

“Yes; it’s so clear, I saw six steamers 
eastbound.” 

“ Was the Algonquin one of them? ” de¬ 
manded Smarty. 

Dick and Will administered discreet 
shoves on hearing this ill-considered allusion 
to Ben Porter’s ship, but the captain merely 
nodded quietly, and gave an involuntary 
glance at the eastern horizon. There, on the 
shining edge, was a tiny black dot. 

“ Oh, let me look at her, too! ” begged the 
irrepressible Robert. Captain Jim oblig¬ 
ingly handed over the binoculars, and finally 



A DRAGON AT HOME 165 

the small lad remembered that he had some 
manners. “ Miss Page, want to take a 
look? ” he inquired politely. 

Miss Page took the glasses he held out, 
and gazed through ,them for quite a long 
time. 

“ Very clear,” she said, finally, passing 
back the binoculars. “ You can see the yel¬ 
low stripes on the smokestack quite plainly.” 

“ Headed for England, isn’t she, Cap¬ 
tain? ” inquired Smarty, his eyes glued to the 
lenses. “ And her turn-around takes nearly 
three weeks, doesn’t it? So she’ll be com¬ 
ing back-” 

“ Give somebody else a chance at those 
glasses, kid,” interposed Will, good-na¬ 
turedly; “we’ve got business ahead.” 

So after every one had had a glimpse of 
the distant graceful vessel, the committee 
moved on toward a white-pillared house 
visible on the summit of the cliff. The boys 
raced for the gate, but Lucille and Camilla 
lingered for Alison, who was coming down 
the steps of her house to the road. 



166 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ Oh! I never thought to get dressed up,” 
murmured Camilla. 

“ Miss Page would have told us to, if we 
should have,” returned Lucille, glancing 
down at her businesslike school frock with 
confidence. 

Alison, however, had got dressed up, after 
a consultation with Mary, who dwelt on the 
fact that good clothes certainly did prevent 
nervous self-consciousness. She wore a 
Sundayfied blue silk frock, and her best 
silver-link bracelet. As she approached, she 
smiled affably at the two other girls. 

“ Are you scared? ” she inquired, falling 
into step. 

“ I oughtn’t to be,” answered Lucille, 
truthfully; “the judge knows my father 
well.” 

“ Mine, too,” agreed Alison; “ and we’re 
such near neighbors that I don’t feel a bit 
nervous, myself. How about you, Camilla? ” 

“ Oh, my father knows the judge so well 
he sees him every day,” answered Camilla, 
dimpling, and skipping over three puddles 


A DRAGON AT HOME 


167 


in the road. “ The judge is awfully par¬ 
ticular, you know; he always comes and 
picks out his own vegetables from my 
father’s cart! ” 

She skipped over two more puddles with 
unusual gayety, and ran after Miss Page. 

Alison put her nose into the air, and had 
nothing much more to say as she and Lucille 
walked the short distance to Judge Tren- 
holm’s house. She had no comment to offer 
on Camilla other than a superior, con¬ 
temptuous little giggle such as Lucille had 
heard from her on more than one previous 
occasion when she wished to express special 
disapproval. Alison had a tendency to get 
rather nervous when she was irritated, and 
to use this giggle instead of spoken com¬ 
ment. What a goose she was just now, 
thought Lucille, and what a perfect dear 
Camilla was! 

At the gate the two girls found Miss Page 
giving some final advice and encouragement. 

“ Since you’ve all been invited, be your¬ 
selves, remembering, of course, that you are 


168 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

guests, and that your host doesn’t act just 
the way younger people do.” 

“ Avoid arguments,” suggested Smarty, 
with great solemnity. 

“ That’s the idea; we must make every¬ 
thing go off as smoothly as possible,” smiled 
Miss Page. “ If the judge should ask many 
questions, as all lawyers are apt to do, just 
be patient, and answer them all. His do¬ 
ing so will really just show his interest in 
you and your work.” 

In a moment the judge’s gray-haired 
housekeeper, who had looked after him since 
his wife’s death, long ago, had ushered the 
party into the great library. There sat 
Judge Trenholm, at his big mahogany desk 
facing the fireplace, surrounded by book¬ 
shelves reaching from floor to ceiling. The 
room was handsomely furnished, the pol¬ 
ished floor was covered with thick rugs. 
Over the fireplace hung two likenesses of 
Ralph Trenholm, the judge’s son. 

The young people remembered him only 
dimly, as a big, lively boy who always used 


A DRAGON AT HOME 


169 


to whistle, and make what seemed to be the 
most amusing jokes in the world. One pic¬ 
ture was an enlarged snapshot, showing 
Ralph at fourteen, in baseball togs; the 
other was a fine photograph of him wear¬ 
ing the uniform in which he had fallen, five 
years later, in France. 

The judge rose, motioned the visitors to 
seats, and spoke a courtly if rather frigid 
word of greeting to Miss Page. There was 
a rather awful silence for a minute; and then 
Judge Trenholm inquired, “ May I ask you 
why you have chosen to honor me with this 
visit? ” 

He flung the question at Smarty, whom 
chance had placed in an armchair opposite 
the desk, so deep that the small lad’s feet 
stuck straight out in front of him. Smarty 
did not notice any lack of dignity about his 
position, however, and replied cordially: 
“ Because we think you can help us the most 
of anybody in town. We’re going to give 
a pageant to celebrate the two-hundredth 
anniversary of Carleton, and this is the com- 


170 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

mittee on scenes, and you could help us 
choose good historical occurrences to act, 
because of your library. It would be kind 
of you,” added Smarty, remembering his 
manners, “to do so, and we should be much 
obliged.” 

“ A pageant, eh? ” The judge looked 
chilly. Alison registered disapproval, too, 
but the judge might not have noticed it, for 
he was apparently gazing at Camilla’s hat, 
a pretty one, black with a single big red 
rose. “ A pageant! Girls all want to get 
dressed up and show off, I suppose? ” 

Camilla, evidently thinking the remark 
was addressed to her, laughed outright 
gayly. 

“ Well, I do love to get dressed up,” she 
admitted; “ but I don’t want to do what you 
call 4 show off.’ No, if I should represent 
some one historic, Judge Trenholm, I’d want 
to be just as good and fine and splendid as 
that person was, so every one could see the 
real character. Do you see what I mean? ” 

The judge looked surprised, but not dis- 


A DRAGON AT HOME 


171 


pleased. Camilla’s sweet, gracious spon¬ 
taneity, her artistic instinct, were natural 
and disarming. 

“ You ought to have a good part,” he ob¬ 
served, almost as if in spite of himself. 

44 Oh, anything will do for me,” demurred 
Camilla, modestly, 44 so long as I can take 
part at all, as Miss Page has arranged.” 

44 What has she done? ” asked the judge, 
waving aside politely Miss Page’s whis¬ 
pered, 44 Camilla, dear! ” 

44 She’s got my father to let me stay in 
school until the end of the year! ” 

The judge put on his glasses, and looked 
at Camilla’s beaming face. 44 You’re Mr. 
Caro’s daughter, aren’t you? ” She nodded 
proudly. 44 Were you going to leave school? 
Why? ” 

44 To work in the store.” Her face fell 
slightly. 

44 To work in the store!” repeated the 
judge. 44 How old are you? ” 

44 Fourteen next week! ” 

Camilla beamed again. The judge pon- 


172 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

dered. Was there a single flash from those 
sharp eyes toward the picture of the merry 
baseball player over the fireplace? Lucille 
thought so, but could not be sure, so quickly 
had the judge snapped at Dick, “ What do 
you want to have this celebration for? ” 

It was quite apparent that the judge’s 
curiosity was based on Dick’s reputation as 
a disturber of celebrations. Alison offered 
the judge a sympathetic glance. Dick 
turned bright red, but commanded himself, 
and answered respectfully: “ I think we 
ought to pay a tribute to our town history, 
sir; and a celebration would give us young 
people something interesting to do.” 

“You think it’s dull here, do you? ” asked 
the judge, pouncing on the word “ interest- 
mg. 

Dick stood his ground. “ Sometimes. 
Not that I think it should be. We just 
don’t get much chance to show what we can 
do, somehow.” 

The judge grunted, and, without further 
comment, whirled on Will. 


A DRAGON AT HOME 


173 


“ What’s your idea about this pageant— 
er—boy ? ” 

That the question was vague, sudden, 
rather unfriendly, and that the judge evi¬ 
dently had no idea who Will was, did not 
disconcert that resolute lad, who was used 
to snubs and emergencies. 

“ I like pageants,” he answered, in a per¬ 
fectly self-possessed way. 

Most of his hearers thought that as good 
an answer as any, and felt quite proud of 
Will. 

“ How do you know anything about 
them? ” asked the judge, skeptically. 

“ I have read about them in the public 
library. Yes, sir, I mean the one in Hal- 
lett.” 

“ That’s twenty miles away. It costs 
money to get there.” 

“It does,” admitted Will; “I can take 
care of that.” 

“ Indeed! ” The iudge looked interested. 
“ How? ” 

“ I clean codfish for the fishermen at the 


174 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


docks. They pay me ten cents an hour, and 
all the sounds I want.” 

“ Sounds? You mean the air-sacs the fish 
swim with? ” Will nodded. “ What in the 
name of sense do you want with them? ” 

“ My mother fries them for supper. Then 
she can give me money for lunch in Hallett. 
I go there every other Saturday, to the 
library. Fried sounds are very good,” ex¬ 
plained Will, politely, seeing the judge’s 
stupefaction; “ I should not eat them if they 
were not.” 

“ That,” observed the judge after a short 
pause, “ I am inclined to believe. But do 
you like to clean codfish? ” 

“ It’s work,” explained Will philosoph¬ 
ically; “ and I work to go to the library. 
All codfish are the same inside.” 

The walls of the stately old room rang 
with the first laughter, probably, heard there 
in years. Alison alone preserved her dignity 
in the face of this unrefined conversation, 
until she saw that Judge Trenholm was con¬ 
vulsed ; this took her aback, but she hastened 


A DRAGON AT HOME 


175 


to look slightly more tolerant, as he finally 
ejaculated: “ Well, I guess you’re on your 
way somewhere—er—boy! What’s your 
name, anyhow? ” 

“ William Stanwood Blair,” replied Will, 
with dignity. 

Was there, again, a lightning flash of 
those sharp old eyes toward the fireplace, 
over which hung that picture of a boy in 
uniform? Again, Lucille could not be sure; 
she herself was already under cross-examina¬ 
tion. 

“ Well, Lucille,” observed the judge, 
leaning back as if expecting a fine long an¬ 
swer to whatever he was going to ask, “ since 
your father edits the News , you must know 
a great deal about the town. I suppose 
you’ve already many fine ideas for scenes 
for this—this proposed pageant. Let’s hear 
a few! ” 

Lucille knew much depended on her an¬ 
swer. If she could only clinch the interest 
of the judge, which the others must have 
aroused-! 



176 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ I thought,” she began carefully, “ that 
we might represent the Vikings who touched 
here during their voyage of discovery in 
1000 a. d. And then I thought of the In¬ 
dians who were friendly to some of our first 
settlers, and asked for a teacher. And 
General Lafayette visited Carleton on his 
farewell tour,—why couldn’t we have a 
scene with him? And of course we had 
famous women, too, especially Pamela Har- 
rold, our wonderful artist who invented the 
Carleton homespun weaves. I thought 
surely we should have something about her 
in the show. Those are a few of my ideas.” 

“ You’ve left out,” commented the judge 
rather brusquely, giving no indication as to 
whether he was or was not impressed with 
this creditable list, “ the most important of 
all the events in Carleton history. Who 
knows to what I allude? ” 

Out of a clear sky panic fell upon the 
company. Lucille, Dick, Will, and Smarty 
knew well about the judge’s rumored preju¬ 
dice ; so, doubtless, did Alison, his old family 




“You’ve left out the most important of all the events 
in Carleton history ” — Page 176. 
















































A DRAGON AT HOME 


177 


friend. Camilla’s big frightened eyes hinted 
that she had certainly heard reports of some 
unpleasant topic that might “ start argu¬ 
ments,” with sad results. Even Miss Page 
turned pale. Was it for this that the mem¬ 
bers of the committee had passed through 
such an ordeal, and answered so many 
curious questions endlessly put to them by 
the judge? For if he should now want to 
talk about the silver-plaque story; if he 
really did believe the town had lost its talis¬ 
man, and no effort was much use until that 
returned, what on earth might happen to the 
pageant-? 

“I know to what you allude!” cried 
Smarty, flinging himself instantly into the 
breach. “ You allude to the Barbary pi¬ 
rates! ” 

“ Eh-h-h? ” rasped the astounded judge. 
“ Are you trying to be funny, young man? ” 

“ No, sir,” denied Smarty, soberly; “ I’m 
not funny.” 

A faint smile appeared even on Miss 
Page’s face; and Alison began to laugh. 



178 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


Commencing as her taunting, superior 
little giggle, that laugh unexpectedly broke 
bounds. Alison, horrified, found a handker¬ 
chief, gagged herself, and kept straight on 
laughing. She laughed and laughed, she 
gasped for breath, tears rained down her 
cheeks, Miss Page spoke to her, the judge 
glared at her,—she laughed. Then sud¬ 
denly, with a frightful hiccough, she came to 
a full stop. 

There was a scandalized, appalling silence. 
It was broken by Alison herself. To show 
her self-possession, she started to put away 
her handkerchief; but the pocket in the 
rustling taffeta skirt of the elegant frock 
was very elusive, and her efforts to locate it 
were punctuated by a loudly-tinkling chain 
bracelet. The judge could stand no more, 
and it was Alison’s turn for an examination, 
too. He pounced on her. 

“ Why don’t you like this pageant idea? 
Hey? ” he demanded. “ I noticed you didn’t 
right from the start. Why not? ” 

“Oh—I don’t know-” Alison, sur- 




A DRAGON AT HOME 179 

prised that her thoughts should have been 
read, choked and stammered. 

“ What are your objections? ” insisted the 
judge. 

“ I—I don’t know if there are enough— 
er—good people at school to do it well,” 
faltered Alison, in her agitation speaking 
her thoughts much too clearly for the taste 
of her companions. 

“ How many of you are there? ” 

“ I don’t know-” 

“ One hundred and one,” murmured Dick. 
The judge pushed his glasses up on his 
forehead, and viewed Alison without any 
special manifestation of pleasure. 

“ If I thought there were a hundred more 
like you,” he remarked frankly, “I’d send 
the whole lot packing. I suppose you call 
yourself the best there is in Carleton? ” 
Even though she had brought her troubles 
on herself, Alison was in a hard position. 
She sniffed woefully, and by silence assented 
to the judge’s question, for she had no idea 
what to say. 




180 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ I’ve had some surprises this afternoon,” 
said the judge; “not disagreeable ones, 
either. But if the best of you—and there 
must be many more best ones, so called—can 
do nothing but find fault and say they don’t 
know anything, I guess there’s no use gor¬ 
ing on.” 

Indignant glances assailed Alison. Had 
she spoiled the whole project? The public 
wrath she sensed was so strong that she for¬ 
got her object had been to make the judge 
withhold his help. All she saw was that he 
was disaffected because he didn’t like her, 
and he did like the others! Why, oh, why? 
But suddenly she heard Smarty’s voice: 
“ Excuse me, Judge; Alison can write some 
of the nicest poetry you ever heard. She 
could write some for the pageant; I know 
she could.” 

“ Hey? ” 

“You thought Alison couldn’t do any¬ 
thing. Well, last week she gave a treasure- 
hunt, and the clues were all beautiful 
poems-” 





A DRAGON AT HOME 


181 


“ Indeed! Did you go, and find the treas¬ 
ure, detective style? ” 

“No,” denied Smarty, so much in earnest 
that he was quite impervious to this rather 
unkind satire; “Alison invited only prom¬ 
inent people. But Lucille ”—with a firm, 
stubby finger he indicated that agitated 
damsel—“ went, and found the key to the 
treasure-chest, and so she told us all the 
poems that were the clues, and they were 
awful nice, and Alison could write some of 
them for the pageant.” 

“ She could, eh? ” echoed the judge, be¬ 
ginning to look a little worn-out. His 
guests, even Alison, were beginning to look 
cheered. 

“ Yes, sir; everybody can do something.” 
“ What can you do, for instance? ” 
Smarty calmly considered his talents, ap¬ 
parently realizing that his bodily presence 
did not promise much dramatic gift, while 
his social qualities had certain limitations. 

“ Well, I can look things up in books 
awful well,” he finally announced. 



182 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ Indeed? ” remarked the judge. “ By 
the way, that reminds me: I think you must 
have acquired some information by that 
means, which, I must say, escapes me for 
the moment. What did you mean a few 
minutes ago by saying I had made an allu¬ 
sion to the Barbary pirates? ” 

Was that awful silver plaque coming up 
again? Smarty again met the crisis. 

“ Why,” he inquired in a tone of surprise, 
“ don’t you know about the Carleton ship¬ 
wrights that went down to Georgia to sup¬ 
ply labor to cut the live-oak timber to build 
the six great frigates for our first navy? 
They were the ships ”—Smarty’s eyes glit¬ 
tered—“ that swept the pirates of Tripoli 
and Algiers from the seas! They won the 
freedom of the seas for American seamen! 
I got that all out of a book that came from 
the Hallett library, and I think it should be 
the most important scene in the pageant! ” 

This time the judge seemed quite over¬ 
whelmed; in fact, he said nothing for so 
long, being apparently wrapped in deep re- 


A DRAGON AT HOME 


183 


flection, that his visitors began to fidget with 
apprehension. Then he spoke; and again 
they got a shock. 

“ I do not know,” he said, “ that I am 
wholly disinclined to help your project. I 
was, at one time, but since most of you do 
seem to be sincere and unselfish, and to wish 
to do your best for your home, as I once saw 

another-” He broke off abruptly. 

“ Suppose we see what can be done in the 
way of scenes.” 

Jerking his head at Dick, he indicated, 
with a thin white hand, a line of red-leather- 
bound volumes on a top shelf. 

“ Step up on that ladder and hand those 
down, will you, young man ? They’re copies 
of town records, probably useful for your 
purpose,” he explained to the committee. 
“You can go through them and make notes 
as you like. But mind: no finger-prints, and 
don’t turn up pages from the bottom! ” 

And now the stately library was filled 
with the noise of scratching pencils, and 
eager discussions as to the dramatic possi- 



184 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


bilities of historic Carleton events. Every¬ 
body worked with might and main, includ¬ 
ing Alison, who seemed to have quite 
changed her mind about the desirability of 
the celebration, though she said not one 
single word more the whole afternoon. The 
bugbear that had twice threatened the occa¬ 
sion seemed to have disappeared; there was 
no allusion to it in the red-bound books. 
There proved to be an amazing list of good 
events from which the school could choose 
striking scenes for the pageant; even in 
modern times, with its fisheries and pros¬ 
perous farming, statistics showed Carleton 
to be not quite so “ dead ” as had been 
thought. Finally, as the late afternoon 
shadows began to cover the green lawn out¬ 
side the windows, Miss Page insisted that 
too much of the judge’s time had already 
been taken up, and made the move for the 
well-satisfied committee to leave. 

“ Just read over the list once,” requested 
the judge. 

Dick complied; it sounded splendid. 


A DRAGON AT HOME 


185 


“ And yet,” commented the judge with 
sudden faint testiness, “ you’ve left out still 
the most important thing that ever happened 
here! Don’t any of you know about the fish¬ 
ing fleet that took down the codfish to the 
West Indies to stop a famine, and won the 
town a silver plaque? ” 

This time the lightning had struck! 

It was at Lucille, opposite him, that he 
shot the question. Only a direct answer was 
in order. She knew all her companions 
were holding strangled breaths; she herself 
just managed her own. 

“Yes,” she answered; “I have heard 
about that.” 

“ And you know the plaque was lost forty 
years ago? ” 

“ Yes, Judge Trenholm. Perhaps that 
was why we didn’t think of including the 
fishermen’s exploit as a scene. You see, we 
want the pageant to be—well—cheerful and 
inspiring.” 

“ I see,” said the judge. “ Then you must 
know, too, that many believe that the plaque 



186 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

must return before the town can prosper as 
in old days? ” 

“ I have heard that story,” assented Lu¬ 
cille, gently. 

“ Story! Don’t you believe it? ” 

What a question! For the truth was, 
Lucille had never been able to decide just 
what she did think of that tradition. Yet 
now, strangely, in that awful minute when 
she must speak truthfully, yet say nothing 
to wound that sad, cantankerous old man 
who, after all, had shown himself not so very 
unfriendly, and whose loneliness must touch 
any heart, the right answer sprang to her 
mind crystal-clear. 

“ I don’t think it was the plaque that made 
us prosper,” said Lucille, boldly. 

“ What do you think it was? ” 

“ I think it was that spirit which those 
fishermen showed, when they heroically did 
an unselfish service. That won the plaque, 
it is true; but,” cried Lucille, in happy sur¬ 
prise as the whole truth burst upon her, 
“whoever has such a spirit must prosper! 


A DRAGON AT HOME 


187 


So, if we have it, we shall prosper, plaque 
or no plaque! At least, that’s the way it 
seems to me, Judge Trenholm.” 

“Well! All right. Good-afternoon to 
you all,” said the judge, abruptly. 

But as the visitors filed out, he added: “ If 
you need more help, you can say so! ” 


CHAPTER XI 


ginger’s scheme 

“ I will not go and sew! ” cried Alison, 
peevishly. 

“ You’d better,” suggested Mary, gently. 

“You’d just better!” qualified Ginger, 
wrathfully. 

The three were standing before the closed 
door of Miss Page’s classroom. It was the 
middle of an afternoon a week following the 
visit to Judge Trenholm, and Alison had 
just made an unsuccessful attempt to slip 
past the door and up-stairs. But Mary had 
at that moment come along the hall, and 
Ginger had stepped off the first-floor land¬ 
ing, and both had hurried to detain her. 
Their attitude was severe. 

44 It seems to me,” suggested Mary, 44 that 
the least you can do now is to help people 
who have good ideas to carry them out.” 

44 1 don’t want to help Ethel Merriam! ” 

188 


GINGER’S SCHEME 


189 


“ Have some public spirit, can’t you?” 
scolded Ginger. “ You and your plan to 
stop things! Why, you started them all go¬ 
ing! All the eight scenes are settled, and 
everybody has a part, and all the commit¬ 
tees are appointed, and working-” 

“ And some people that said they backed 
me don’t seem to be overcome with grief! ” 
snapped back Alison, not so cordial an ally 
of Ginger’s, it would appear, as formerly. 
“You haven’t such a poor part yourself, 
have you, now? Young Indian braves wear 
wonderful costumes, though perhaps they 
don’t talk quite so much as pirate chiefs! ” 
“Watch your step!” scowled Ginger, 
somehow touched on a nerve. 

“ And you, Mary,” continued Alison, un¬ 
heeding; “ you decided you could stand be¬ 
ing a girl who danced with Lafayette on his 
visit here, didn’t you? And Tom is so 
tickled with the cute way he runs meetings, 
that he has to be chairman of the finance 
committee, and pester everybody to death 
selling twenty-five-cent tickets-” 




190 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“What about yourself?” interrupted 
Ginger. 

“ I’m writing those connecting verses for 
the scenes only because I get credit for them 
in English! ” 

“ I see. Well, the fact is now, that since 
there’s going to be a pageant, our crowd 
ought to run it.” 

“ Of course,” said Mary. “ Where are 
you going, Ginger? ” 

“To the assembly-room, to see what Will 
Blair and those other fellows on the staging 
committee are doing.” 

“ What are they supposed to be doing? ” 

“ Helping the carpenter widen the plat¬ 
form.” 

“ It’ll be a big change for you to drive a 
few nails! ” called Alison, acrimoniously, as 
Ginger started down-stairs. 

Mary seized her firmly. Mary had been 
remarkably firm this last week. 

“Alison, behave! The crowd is awfully 
mad at you.” 

“ Mean things! ” 


GINGER’S SCHEME 


191 


“Not at all. You acted like a perfect 
goose at Judge Trenholm’s, and got us all 
laughed at.” 

“ Well, I have told you about a hundred 
times that I could not stop laughing. I was 
nervous; I was trying to help you all. And 
do I get gratitude or sympathy? ” 

“ Well, it’s up to you to work and behave 
if you want people to like you again. Now, 
don’t pout; just get busy.” 

Mary flung the door open, and there was 
no escape. 

Yet even Alison was unwillingly im¬ 
pressed with the charm of the scene before 
her. Every desk in the room was covered 
with a pile of bright-colored cheesecloth, 
muslin, or Canton flannel; in front of each 
desk sat an industrious girl, sewing, cutting, 
basting. Tables were covered with sheets of 

rainbow-colored tissue-paper, layers of sil- 

/• 

ver and gold, paste-pots and brushes. And 
everywhere, it seemed, was the lively, en¬ 
ergetic figure of Ethel, working harder than 
any one else, if that were possible. 


192 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

For, in the appointment of the commit¬ 
tees, Ethel had been given a place of honor 
well suited to her. To the general satisfac¬ 
tion of every one, she was chairman of the 
costume committee, and the dazzling, well- 
organized industry surrounding her was the 
creation of her busy brain and hand. She 
greeted the newcomers heartily. 

“ Hurrah! More people coming to work! 
Well, not to waste any time, will you please 
get a needle and sew this fringe right on 
this Indian costume, Mary? Thanks so 
much! Alison, do go and help Mildred 
Wrenn fix General Lafayette’s wig,—it’s 
hard work for one person.” 

A glance from Mary, whose needle was 
already flashing in and out of the brown 
fringe on her lap, urged Alison on to a sticky 
job of cotton and mucilage. Mildred lifted 
a flushed face, and rested some tired fingers 
a moment. 

“With all this work, I hope we’ll make 
some money,” she remarked. 

“ Don’t expect that,” warned Ethel. 



GINGER’S SCHEME 


193 


“ But Tom says that if we sell all the tickets, 
we ought to cover expenses,—these ma¬ 
terials, you know, and the boards for the 
platform extension. I think that would be 
good, for our first big celebration. Don’t 
you think so? ” 

“ Fine! ” agreed Mary. “ It would hardly 
do to come out of it in debt, would it? How 
much has been spent, Ethel? ” 

“ The materials are worth about thirty 
dollars; but though we offered to find cash 
for them, of course, the storekeeper and 
carpenter let us take them on credit, because 
they wanted to help the pageant. Wasn’t 
that kind? They said to pay for them after 
we had taken in the money.” 

“ Doesn’t that show a lot of interest? ” 
cried Mildred, resuming her work on the wig 
with enthusiasm. “ And it shows confidence 
in us, too, I think.” 

“ It’s wonderful! ” agreed Mary. “ And, 
of course, it puts special responsibility on us, 
to reward the confidence, doesn’t it? ” 

“Why, naturally,” said Mildred, who 



194 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

was not fond of flat commonplaces, and 
didn’t mind letting people know how she felt 
about it. 

Alison giggled so Mary heard her, and 
began to help Mildred with much more 
spirit. But spirited work was the rule and 

not the exception, under Ethel’s super- 

✓ ' 

vision, and in an hour costumes and prop¬ 
erties had progressed so far that an exhibi¬ 
tion was felt to be in order. 

“ Where’s Miss Page? ” asked Lucille, 
who had been listening, not talking, while 
she worked on a glittering cardboard-and- 
silver-paper shield that some bold Viking 
was to carry. “ She said she was coming in 
this afternoon to help us sew.” 

“ She must have been badly delayed, 
somehow,” said Ethel. 

The girls glanced at one another with a 
touch of uneasiness; Miss Page would never 
have forgotten her promise. Had anything 
happened? As if to confirm premonitions, 
at that very instant Ginger Burnham shot in 
at the door, wildly excited, and followed by 


GINGER’S SCHEME 


195 


Will Blair and all the boys on the carpentry 
committee. 

“Say, listen!” cried Ginger, forgetting 
that one should break bad news gently, par¬ 
ticularly to ladies. “ The carpenter says the 
platform down-stairs won’t hold an exten¬ 
sion strong enough for the big scenes! 
There might be a terrible accident.” 

Consternation reigned. Ethel spoke first: 
“ Can’t we use the assembly-room at all? ” 

“ Oh, yes, for all the smaller scenes-” 

“ That the upper classes are giving? ” shot 
in Mildred, transferring a sharp glance 
from Ginger to Mary and her satellites. 

“ Why, we can’t sacrifice everything, just 

because some changes have to be made-” 

“ Why can’t we hold the whole pageant 
somewhere else? ” asked Lucille. 

Ginger shook his head, and the other boys 
looked equally dubious. 

“ We must hold it where we can get an 
audience large enough to pay expenses. 
There’s no other hall in town larger than 
ours, or as large.” 




196 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

These statements were quite true. The 
bitterness of the disappointment that ap¬ 
peared on the faces of the younger students, 
whose large classes were planning the larger 
scenes, was pathetic. Camilla left the table 
where she had been helping Lucille, and 
tried to comfort them. Despairing silence 
had given way to a buzz of exasperation and 
rage, when Miss Page came hastily in, look¬ 
ing quite worried. 

For not only was the news true, but the 
suggestion to shorten the pageant—Ginger’s 
originally, it appeared—would really have 
to be considered, to save the situation at all. 
In the midst of an animated discussion as 
to what could best be omitted from the 
program, Lucille whispered to Ethel: 
“ Those poor children! Can’t anything be 
done for them? ” 

“ Something must be—I’m sure I don’t 
know what,” muttered Ethel. “ Mildred’s 
quite right; Ginger and his crowd want to 
grab this show and run it.” 

“ Alison doesn’t. She’s paying no atten- 




GINGER’S SCHEME 


197 


tion to them,—or,” frowned Lucille, puz¬ 
zled, “ or they to her-” 

“ Never mind that now,” said Ethel; “ lis¬ 
ten!” 

Ginger had the floor. 

“So we could leave out the pirates and 
the Vikings and one of those modern scenes 
without absolutely ruining the show.” 

“ It would be very regrettable,” came 
from Miss Page, reluctantly. 

Ethel suddenly sprang up on a chair, and 
clapped her hands violently. That word 
“ pirates ” ! Had Ginger only known how 
it helped her! 

“ I’ve just had an inspiration! ” she cried. 
“ Let’s give the performance on Battery 
Cape!” 

Gasps greeted this original suggestion. 

“ The idea just came to me! ” rushed on 
Ethel; “we simply must not leave out one 
single person from the pageant! I think 
Battery Cape’s just made for our show! 
You know, right below the gun battery, 
there’s a wide, flat, semicircular space? 



198 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

That could be the stage; it’s plenty big 
enough. The audience can sit on the hill; 
that’s plenty big enough! And you know 
lots of pageants are given outdoors.” 

“ It’s a grand idea!” cried Mildred, in 
wild enthusiasm. “ The background of the 
bay will be perfectly beautiful, and the 
weather’s sure to be fine by the date of the 
performance, and everybody can come! We 
have special responsibility,” she twittered 
gayly. “It is our duty to reward the con¬ 
fidence of all the public that’s taking an in¬ 
terest in us! ” 

A chorus of giggles, in which Camilla’s 
musical laughter could be distinguished, did 
not particularly please the proponents of a 
curtailed celebration. They rallied, in fact, 
and stood together quite firmly. 

“ What about those five guns? They’ll 
be right in the way of the audience,” pointed 
out Ginger, practically. 

“ And there are no curtains or wings. 
How can you produce the show right out 
in the open?” asked Mary. “ And the 



y y 


“Let’s give the performance on Battery Cape! 

Page 197. 











































GINGER’S SCHEME 


199 


cape’s public property. How can we use 
it? It’s in a terrible mess, anyhow.” 

There were, indeed, practical difficulties 
in the way of the new plan. But as even 
Miss Page began to look dubious, help ar¬ 
rived from an unexpected quarter. Little 
Mildred Wrenn, penetrating and sharp- 
witted, for once lent her ready tongue to 
support a real ideal of which she was firmly 
convinced. 

“ Listen! ” she commanded; and her good 
presence and speech drew instant attention. 
44 It would be horrible to change the whole 
spirit of this celebration, as we’d have to, if 
we left any one out of it. We’re all work¬ 
ing for the show, and for the town, aren’t 
we? Then let’s keep right on ahead, to¬ 
gether! If Battery Cape’s our one hope, 
let’s make it a certainty! If it means extra 
work, let’s do extra work. But don’t let’s 
give up our big chance to go ahead together 
and show what we are—not for anything on 
earth! ” 

“ Hurray-ray-ray! ” cried voices all over 



200 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

the room. “Three cheers! No, we won’t 
change the show—we’ll all be in it! What’s 
the first thing to do? ” 

Miss Page laughed heartily at an uproar 
she seemed for once ready to tolerate, as she 
answered: “ You’ll have to get permission 
from the town council to use the prop¬ 
erty.” 

“Judge Trenholm will help us!” piped 
up Camilla. “ Why, he asked us to come to 
him if we needed more help! ” 

“ Good! And then you’ll have to move 
those cannon-” 

“ We boys can drag them over tempo¬ 
rarily to one side of the field,” suggested 
Will. 

“ As for the staging—perhaps I can think 
of some way that difficulties can be adjusted, 
if you will help me.” 

“ We will! ” came cries from all over the 
room. “ And why can’t we go down before 
the performance, and pick up all those 
papers and things, and make the whole cape 
look nice? ” 




GINGER’S SCHEME 


201 


A good deal of enthusiasm had sprung 
up; but Ginger made a last stand. 

“ Look here,” he exclaimed, “ what about 
the money? We have to raise thirty dol¬ 
lars. We’ve sold lots of tickets for a quar¬ 
ter. Are people going to pay a quarter to 
sit on the ground? They’ll say we sold the 
tickets under false pretenses, and they’ll ask 
for their money back, and maybe not come. 
Do we want to get in wrong with everybody, 
and into debt, too, while we’re showing how 
patriotic we are? ” 

This issue was undoubtedly important. 
Enthusiasm was checked rather sharply. 
Ginger looked triumphant, and his friends, 
waiting questioningly, suggested no solu¬ 
tion. If the management of the show was, 
after all, coming their way, they didn’t mind 
it in the least. 

“ I know what we could do,” said Lucille. 

For the need of the moment had roused 
something new in her, as it had in Mildred, 
a moment before; she realized that no one in 
the room but herself could have thought of 


202 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

just the practical solution for that special 
difficulty. 

“ That is,” she continued, “ we could do it 
if all of you approve. The News goes to 
press to-morrow, to come out Friday. By 
Friday we’ll know if we can use the cape. I 
know my father would be glad to save space 
for an article to be put in at the last mo¬ 
ment, which will tell people about our new 
plans. We can also decide what would be 
fair to do about the tickets we’ve sold, and 
announce that. Ever so many people are 
interested in the pageant; they’ll help us, I 
think, if we asked their help the right way. 
What do you think? ” 

44 Fine! ” cried many voices. 

Hope, indeed, revived again; and it was 
rather encouraging to see that the ranks of 
the opposition became quieter. Ginger did 
not look exactly delighted, it was true; but 
a good many of his cronies, who could not 
have said so if their lives had depended on 
it, gave evidence by their expressions that 
perhaps, after all, it was no harm if every- 


GINGER’S SCHEME 


203 


body that had started in the show could 
finish with it. So far had a better public 
opinion advanced, at any rate. 

“ Then,” said Lucille, “ if one of the boys 

would run down to the newspaper office-” 

“ I’ll run!” piped up a voice not heard 
during the councils. 

“ That Smarty! ” cried Ginger. “ Where’s 
he been hiding? ” 

“ I was not hiding! ” cried Smarty indig¬ 
nantly. “ Some folks have been so busy 
saying what’s the matter with everything 
they can’t run themselves, that they didn’t 
know anybody was here but themselves! I 
don’t talk unless I’ve something to say, but 
I’ll run to your father’s office, Lucille! ” 
Amid waves of giggles from the pro-cape 
party, and perhaps a few even from the cor¬ 
ner where Ginger was standing, Lucille 
hustled the protesting but eager messenger 
out of the door. He halted a second in the 
hall, and whispered excitedly: “ The show’s 
going through, sure! ” 

“ I hope so! ” breathed Lucille. 



204 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ When we all put that show across,” de¬ 
clared Smarty, solemnly, “ there’s no tell¬ 
ing what’ll happen. I know it! ” 

“ All right, Robert. Run along! ” urged 
Lucille, not paying much attention, so weary 
was she after the afternoon’s ups and downs. 
But still the messenger lingered. 

“ Lucille, your father has a telegraph in 
his office, hasn’t he? ” 

“ Yes, but-” 

“ Well, couldn’t he telegraph the news —” 
“Listen, Robert: there isn’t any news 
yet,” warned Lucille; “we’ve only made a 
plan. You leave any telegraphing and an¬ 
nouncements to my father. But if you want 
to make some news, you’d better run 
along! ” 

“I will!” 

Off sped Smarty finally on that important 
errand; and Lucille returned to the class¬ 
room to find the combination thimble-party 
and mass-meeting adjourning at last. 



CHAPTER XII 


A FISH STORY 

With work put away and workers scat¬ 
tered, and still the end of a bright sunny 
afternoon left, Lucille assented readily to 
Ethel’s proposal that they should stroll 
down their favorite road to Battery Cape, 
and see if it would come up to expectations 
as a location for the pageant. 

Neglected as it was, any one could see 
that in itself it would make a practical and 
charming setting, especially if put in order. 

“O dear me!” sighed Lucille, who felt 
very tired after the shocks of the afternoon, 
“ what a lot of work there is to do here! 
Do you suppose this pageant will ever really 
happen, Ethel? I am so tired of fussing 
and fighting about it! ” 

“ Cheer up! ” urged Ethel, though she 
looked tired herself. 4 4 Pageants are always 
a lot of trouble, I guess. And if you look 

205 


206 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

back over what we’ve come through, Lu¬ 
cille, you’ll see that lots of things have gone 
very well. Why, ever since we got Judge 
Trenholm’s help, everything has just sailed 
right along, until this afternoon; and even 
then, you could see how many people have 
been won over to work for the great cause. 
Of course, we need everybody. But if Gin¬ 
ger, and all that crowd, see things are going 
to succeed, I believe they’ll calm down yet, 
and be a help, too, instead of just a hin¬ 
drance.” 

“ Do you think so? Ginger was certainly 
specially bent on running things to-day.” 

“ Oh, there was something special the mat¬ 
ter with him; Dick told me.” 

“ What was it? ” 

“ He wanted to be pirate chief in the 
scene Smarty Mason’s class is getting up; 
they’re all little boys, you know, and they 
put Ginger out, and wouldn’t have him! 
They’re going to have George Anderson for 
chief, because he can talk louder than any¬ 
body else! ” 


A FISH STORY 


207 


Lucille giggled. “ There’s a place for 
every talent in this show, isn’t there? Oh, 
what’s that? Oo-oo-hoo! Hallo!” 

Her hail had answered one from Captain 
Jim; there, at the bottom of the hill, was his 
fishing-boat. Dick was on board, buckling 
his long boots, and beside him was Will, 
preparing to cast off. 

“ Want to come along fishing, girls? ” 
called the captain. “ We’re going to the 
Point for a short spell.” 

With shrieks of delight, the two girls 
dashed down the hill and leaped into the 
tossing boat. Captain Jim did not invite 
everybody to accompany him on fishing- 
trips. 

“ Thought I’d take out two of my best 
pupils, seeing specially they must be kind 
of tired after such a hard afternoon’s work,” 
explained the captain, who had evidently 
heard some details from Will. 

“ How lovely of you, Captain Jim! 
We’re not tired any longer, and we’ll take 
a big catch for you,” promised Ethel. 


208 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ Then if we do, you must spin us a yarn,” 
declared Lucille. 

“ Sure! ” promised the captain. “ Turn 
about’s fair play.” 

He set the boat toward the Point, that 

% 

long cape on the opposite side of Hallett 
Bay. It was a stretch of pine-covered 
ledges, and fishing was always good there. 
The spray dashed over the boat, the sun¬ 
light danced on the waves, there was just 
enough wind to be bracing. Soon the boat 
swung into a little cove, and the boys ar¬ 
ranged long lines, which they had baited 
with herring, along the sides. 

Then the fishing party took up a watch; 
but they had not long to wait. One of Lu¬ 
cille’s lines jerked almost immediately; she 
hauled it in, and, with Captain Jim’s assist¬ 
ance, brought aboard a fourteen-pound cod¬ 
fish. Though it was not of unusual size, the 
captain read in the promptitude of the bite 
sure prophecy of a profitable afternoon, and 
was delighted with the prospects. Nor was 
he disappointed, for shortly two simul- 


A FISH STORY 209 

taneous bites for Dick and Will started 
great activity. All five fishers were breath¬ 
lessly busy for a long time, landing their 
fish, renewing bait, and piling the catch up 
In the deep bottom of the motor-boat. 
Finally the excitement became so great that, 
to quote the captain, “ the fish got wise,” for 
they refused to be caught any more for 
a while. 

“ Better wait a bit,” said Captain Jim, 
settling himself comfortably in the bow. 
“ They’ll come back if you’ll leave the lines 
there, and don’t make a racket. That’s the 
way with fish, and folks, too, for that mat¬ 
ter.” 

“ Then we’ll all keep quiet, and you can 
tell us that story you promised us,” sug¬ 
gested Lucille; “you can speak low, Cap¬ 
tain Jim, and we can all hear you perfectly 
well here on the water. Look!” She 
pointed to the bottom of the boat. “ Isn’t 
that a big catch, already? ” 

“ Oh, I pay my debts! ” declared the cap¬ 
tain; “ and I’ll never break a promise while 


210 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

the head, hand, and heart rule together! 
Let’s see: what’ll the story be about to¬ 
day? ” 

“ Before you start, do tell us why you 
always say that about the head, hand, and 
heart,” begged Dick. “ I’ve never heard 
another person say it. .What does it mean? 
Did you make it up? ” 

“Not me!” denied the captain. “But 
that pledge of mine will do for the story 
itself, folks, as Dick has reminded me. 
Those words were said to me nigh on to forty 
years ago, I guess, by the queerest fellow 
I ever saw, and I’ve seen a few. He was a 
prince.” 

“ A prince! ” cried Ethel and Lucille to¬ 
gether, rapturously. 

“ He didn’t wear no crown, girls, nor any 
ermine robe, neither,” warned the captain, 
“ but he was the son of a Gypsy king, so I 
reckon that, according to his own calcula¬ 
tions, anyway, he was a prince. But you’d 
never guess where he said it to me.” 

“ Where? ” demanded four excited voices. 


A FISH STORY 


211 


“ Now, don’t scare them fish away! He 
said it to me on Battery Cape! ” 

“ Go on, go on! ” hoarsely urged four loud 
whispers. 

“ Well,” proceeded the captain, “ one 
afternoon when I was a lively young rascal 
not so much older than you, I took my little 
sailing-boat down the bay yonder for some 
fish. At first the fish didn’t bite so well, 
and I stayed later than I meant to; and 
then, just as I started home, one of our 
famous big blows came suddenly on, and I 
saw I’d never get back until well after dark. 

“ I did my best, feeling my folks would 
be worried, but it wasn’t until after ten 
o’clock that I managed to get past the Point 
here. Even inside the bay, I found it blow¬ 
ing enough to make me keep near shore. 
I’d just reached Battery Cape, at last, and 
was about to make for the pier, when all of 
a sudden I heard a yell close by—then a 
splash—then—silence. 

“ I headed in the direction of the yell,” 
continued the old sailor, to an intent audi- 




212 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

ence. “ I called out, and held up my lantern 

so as to see across the water. Next second 

» 

I heard the most awful screechings that ever 
struck my ears before or since. They kept 
up, so I judged that whoever had fallen 
overboard hadn’t been drowned, anyhow! 

“ At last I saw something in the water 
not far away. It was getting very shallow. 
I hove an anchor overboard, and jumped in, 
holding the lantern over my head. I waded 
straight up the beach, and there, over by the 
cliff side of the cape, I picked up the young 
one that was making all the noise. He was 
about six years old, standing in a couple of 
feet of water, the scaredest youngster I ever 
laid eyes on, and no Carleton boy whatever! 
Dark-complected and untidy and wild¬ 
looking and soaking wet, he was some sight; 
and when he saw me, he yelled louder than 
ever. 

“Not much flattered, I grabbed him. 
‘ Here, hush, bub,’ says I; ‘ this situation in¬ 
conveniences me, too. Where’d you come 
from? ’ 


A FISH STORY 


213 


“ He pointed up the cape. He must have 
wandered down to the cliff in the dark, and 
fallen off, I thought. Then, next minute, I 
saw some lights flashing up beside the gun 
battery, and I saw the whole thing: there 
was a Gypsy encampment there for the 
night, and he was one of the Gypsy chil¬ 
dren! ” 

“ Oh, Captain Jim! ” gasped Lucille, all 
a-thrill. “ And you had to go up and give 
him back-? ” 

“ That’s right! And fond of adventures 
as I was, I didn’t crave that one,” declared 
the captain, frankly. “ I never took no 
stock in people that go trapesing all over 
creation in wagons, and it was the middle of 
the night, and I was alone, and Gypsies 
ain’t just known for their hospitality. Still, 
I had to look out for the child. So I 
stepped ashore, with him in my arms, and 
next minute I’d climbed the cape, and was 
at the encampment. It was as still as the 
tomb. Evidently the child hadn’t been 
missed, or his cries heard. I called out; 



214 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

and the next minute I got the jolt I was 
looking for. 

“ The most ferocious-looking feller you 
ever saw bounded out of a tent straight at 
me! I sha’n’t tell no lies; it’s the truth I 
was frightened stiff-” 

“ I believe you! ” declared Dick, with con¬ 
viction. 

“ But the child wasn’t frightened at all, 
and struggled down out of my arms, and 
ran toward the man, crying out something 
I didn’t understand. I thought I’d best 
explain my informal evening call pretty 
quick. 

“ ‘ Your little boy must have walked in 
his sleep, or run off, maybe,’ I says. ‘ I 
picked him out of the water right down be¬ 
low the cliff.’ 

“ ‘ How’d you happen to be there? ’ asks 
the man, suspicious. 

“He was over six feet high, about thirty 
years old, I judged, and was very dark and 
savage-looking. He’d a fine black-velvet 
coat, and a right handsome red-silk handker- 



A FISH STORY 


215 


chief tied around his throat. Even by lan¬ 
tern-light he looked impressive; to tell you 
the truth, after a second chance to look at 
him, I sort of took to him, somehow. 

“ 4 I was fishing down the bay, and got 
caught out late in the big windstorm that’s 
just passed. I live here, and I’m just com¬ 
ing in now,’ I explained. 

“ He looked me over mighty careful, and, 
not seeing anything but an innocent-looking 
kid in a sou’wester and slicker and boots, ap¬ 
peared to be more satisfied. 

“ 4 1 thank you for what you did,’ he 
finally said, wonderfully majestic. 4 It is 
my son you rescued. I am in your debt.’ 

44 4 That’s all right,’ says I, and started to 
slide off as tactful as possible. For, folks, 
just at that second I heard footsteps behind 
me, from the direction of the road, and I’d 
noticed that the Gypsy had heard them, too, 
and didn’t look too pleased, either. 

44 If you’d asked me, in fact, I’d have said 
he looked kind of scared. But I couldn’t 
get away quick enough; up behind me 


216 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


stepped another man, and I saw then why 
the first Gypsy had been uneasy. This sec¬ 
ond fellow was much older, and even more 
decorated, and a lot fiercer. Under his arm 
I could see he was holding some sort of 
square, flat package. Right away, the 
younger man spoke to him, though I 
couldn’t understand what they said. The 
old fellow kept looking at me as if he’d eat 
me up in two bites, for half a cent; but 
finally he went away, without saying any¬ 
thing to me, to the encampment behind the 
cannon. The little boy scrambled down 
from his father’s arms, and ran off, too. 
But when I tried to leave again, the father 
stopped me. 

“ ‘ To-morrow I shall be gone,’ he said, so 
low I could hardly hear him; ‘ but I would 
have you know that I shall forever remem¬ 
ber your deed to-night. Know that you 
have not only saved my son; you doubtless 
saved a future king for our tribe, also. For 
as I expect to succeed my father, so I ex¬ 
pect my boy to succeed me. It is our custom.’ 


A FISH STORY 


217 


“ ‘ That’s all right,’ says I; 4 anybody, 
king or no king, that needs my help, 
gets it; that’s how we do things in this 
town.’ 

“ 4 Every soil,’ says the Gypsy, 4 has its 
own secret; and so you have told me yours: 
brotherhood. It is well! It must remain 
the secret of your soil, guarded by those 
guns ’—and he pointed, the strangest way, 
to those five old cannon of the battery— 4 so 
long as the head, the hand, and the heart rule 
together.’ ” 

44 Oh-h-h! ” gasped four delighted voices, 
as the captain reached this most satisfactory 
climax. 44 So that’s where your famous 
pledge comes from, Captain Jim!” 

44 And then what did the Gypsy do? ” de¬ 
manded Will. 

44 He disappeared into the darkness as 
quick as he had appeared. No, I never saw 
him again. What did I do? Waded out 
into the water again, and brought my boat 
to the pier, and went home to bed at last. 
Believe me, folks, I slept! ” 



218 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ And what did people say when you told 
them all your adventures? ” cried Ethel. 

“ Well, now,” confided the captain with a 
hesitating grin, “ you folks are the first I 
ever told! ” 

“ No! Why? Because you were out so 
late? ” demanded Dick, plainly showing his 
great astonishment. 

“ Oh, no, I couldn’t help that, and it made 
no trouble. Well, you see, for one thing, 
Gypsies were much disliked here, and some 
folks treated them awful unkind. When I 
went down early next morning to clean my 
boat, the whole lot of them had gone, so I 
just judged I would keep quiet and not say 
I’d seen them, especially because they hadn’t 
been there when I went down in the after¬ 
noon to get my boat. They’d stayed only 
for the night. I felt if I’d saved their kid 
and then went and told on them, they’d 
think badly of me, with some reason. And 
it was the next day or so that my father 
got me my first job on board a big ship, and 
I was that excited about going off to see the 


A FISH STORY 


219 


world that I never thought about them 
Gypsies for years, I’m sure. I just remem¬ 
bered that man’s pledge, because it was kind 
of mouth-filling, I guess.” 

“ Well, that was a wonderful story! ” de¬ 
clared Lucille. 

The captain looked much gratified. 

“ Some would call it a fish story,” he sug¬ 
gested. “ There’s nothing to prove it! ” 

“ Never mind, we all believe it, and think 
it’s splendid!” declared Ethel. “As for 
fish,—they ought to bite the whole rest of 
the afternoon so we can catch enough to 
repay you for it! Oh, good, they’re start¬ 
ing! No, Lucille, he’s on my line; go away! 
Oh, there’s one on Dick’s! Oh, what big 
ones! Was there ever such an exciting after¬ 
noon? ” 


CHAPTER XIII 


UNTANGLED 

At last, indeed, the whole undertaking 

of the pageant seemed to be going along 

■ 

smoothly and with a rush as well. Judge 
Trenholm used his good offices with the 
town council, and the use of Battery Cape 
for the performance was willingly granted. 
Rehearsals proceeded, costumes progressed. 
Lucille’s father inserted a very pleasant 
article in the News regarding the highly 
original enterprise, the promoters of which 
were to give a local entertainment in the best 
possible setting. The Saturday afternoon 
before the performance was set as the day 
when the cape should be cleared and put in 

order. And then- 

Proceedings suddenly struck a most mys¬ 
terious snag! 

Only a handful of the older and stronger 

students, on whose work the house-cleaning 

220 



UNTANGLED 


221 


of the cape mainly depended, would promise 
to come and work on Saturday afternoon. 

It was a serious matter. The large ma¬ 
jority of the boys and girls were still en¬ 
thusiastic, and would certainly be on hand 
to work. But, as Will pointed out to an 
informal indignation meeting proceeding 
homeward up the road on Thursday after¬ 
noon, the heavy work of moving the cannon 
would require at least ten boys if it were to 
be done easily. 

“ We have one squad, that is, five,” he 
admitted; “there’s yourself, Dick, and I— 
and Tom ” ; there were loud giggles in the 
midst of the gloom, for Tom was as en¬ 
thusiastic about hauling cannon as about 
presiding at meetings, or selling tickets. 
“ And two of my staging committee have 
given their word they’ll be there. Well, 
maybe we can do it, but it’s a double job for 
five.” 

“ I guess we’ll have to do it, anyway,” 
rejoined Dick. “ Well, it’ll be tedious, but 
those cannon aren’t such large-bore guns 



222 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

that they’ll be impossibly heavy, especially if 
they’re on wheeled carriages. It’s mainly 
that it’ll take us twice as long as it should.” 

“ I guess those lazy people know that! ” 
scolded Ethel. 44 1 wonder what in the 
world has got into them? They won’t even 
say they won’t come! They say maybe, and 
perhaps, and possibly, in the most absolutely 
weak-minded way! But you can’t count on 
them to do any work, though they’re all 
willing enough to act, I’m sure. Do you 
know, not more than half a dozen of those 
older girls are coming to pick up the papers 
and stuff? ” 

44 We’ll have a job, too! ” exclaimed Lu¬ 
cille, ruefully. 44 Battery Cape’s pretty big, 
when you think of going over it inch by 
inch.” 

44 1 guess I’d better come,” said Camilla, 
hesitatingly. 

She was walking along beside Ethel, and 
had just been explaining that she was go¬ 
ing into Hallett on Saturday to choose some 
special song for the opening number of the 


UNTANGLED 


223 


pageant. She had, originally, been going 
to sing one of the school songs; but it had 
been decided that, for a Carleton town show, 
it would after all be more suitable to open 
with a song of wider appeal. And Camilla 
was therefore going to a large music-shop to 
select the most appropriate patriotic one to 
be found. 

“ Oh, no, Camilla,” returned Ethel, “ we 
don’t need help as much as that.” 

“ I think you will,” insisted Camilla. 
“ It’s not only because the work is too hard 
for so few, though it is; it’s because you’ll 
never get it done in time. You know you 
won’t.” 

“ That,” admitted Dick, “ is what I should 
really be afraid of.” 

“ But Camilla must go and choose her 
song! It’s awfully important,” insisted 
Ethel. 

“ It’s not so important as clearing up the 
cape,” declared Camilla; and she could speak 
very firmly, though she could not quite re¬ 
press a little sigh that showed how much the 


224 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

new song would mean to her. “ I can sing 
one of the old songs quite well, you know; 
really, I can, and the audience wouldn’t 
know the difference. Anyway, I’ve thought 
of something that might be done to fix 
things better.” 

She was urged on all sides to explain. It 
was quite true that the task of clearing the 
cape alone, should that have to be faced, 
would be enormous. 

“We could rearrange the work,” said 
Camilla. “We can get lots of little boys, 
and all the lower-grade girls, to pick up the 
papers. That’s not hard work; and, if you 
like, I’ll oversee them, and see that they 
don’t get tired or into mischief-” 

“ Who could be better? ” cried Lucille. 

“ And then all the higher-grade boys,— 
there are a lot of them, you know,—and also 
we older girls, can help pull the guns. 
They’re not so very heavy, as Dick says; and 
in a tug-of-war, you know, there’s not much 
strain on anybody. So why not do that 
while we are about it? ” 





UNTANGLED 


225 


“As a plan, it’s good,” hesitated Will; 
“ but I hate to have girls do work like that.” 

“Oh, nonsense!” scoffed Ethel. “It 
won’t hurt any of us if we all do it. All I 
mind is Camilla’s not getting her song.” 

“Don’t think of that again!” ordered 
Camilla, speaking as lightly as she could. 
“ I sha’n’t really mind a bit, if everything 
else goes off well. So you think perhaps my 
little idea will work? Then we’re out of the 
woods once more! ” 

As a patch of timber had just vanished 
behind the trampers, this bright remark was 
loudly applauded, and Camilla’s gallant and 
unselfish spirit highly commended. Then 
the group of friends, on the outskirts of the 
town now, broke up. Camilla danced up the 
wooded pathway to her father’s little farm, 
the boys went off for a swim, Ethel and 
Lucille proceeded up the highway leading 
over the hill toward their homes. 

They discussed again “ what had got into 
people,” and agreed that it was an un¬ 
fathomable mystery why the pageant should 


226 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


threaten to languish at this point, as they 
went up a rather steep streteh that led to 
the first cottage on the hillside. This was 
a pretty little white one, set far back from 
the road, belonging to a family named Lee. 

It had been closed for some months be¬ 
cause Mr. and Mrs. Lee, an elderly couple 
whose children were all grown, had been 
away visiting their married daughter in the 
West. So nothing had been done that 
spring in the garden between the house and 
the road, and accordingly all the untrimmed 
plants and bushes were growing in luxuriant 
wildness. This was particularly true of the 
privet hedge which shut the garden off from 
the road. 

Indeed, cut off thus, and with no trace of 
recent care, the garden looked quite soli¬ 
tary. Yet, as the girls passed, it seemed as 
if somebody must have been doing some¬ 
thing special to cultivate that privet hedge. 
It was not even time for the sweet white 
blossoms to appear, and yet, through the 
thick-leaved twigs, a little distance above 


UNTANGLED 


227 


the ground, could be seen what looked like 
a curious bright-pink flower! Ethel and 
Lucille turned to each other with almost the 
same words: “ It’s Alison’s dress! ” 

“ Nothing else is just that color,” mur¬ 
mured Lucille. “ What’s she doing there? ” 

“ She’s very still.” 

“ And the house is shut up, and she might 
be seen from the road. Let’s go in and find 
out if there are any syringa-blossoms yet; 
Mrs. Lee asked Mother to pick her flowers,” 
recollected Lucille. 

Catching a full view of Alison, then, on 
their way to the syringa-bushes, they halted 
to greet her. But it was a doleful figure 
they saw, one that at first made no response 
whatever. But Alison was not crying; by 
no means. She was sitting on the grass 
behind the hedge, a fierce scowl on her brow, 
her hands clenched, her mouth one long, 
hard line. She was not, in fact, a pleasant 
spectacle, but Lucille approached her in¬ 
trepidly. 

“ Is anything the matter, Alison? ” 


228 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“Anything! 33 burst out Alison, as sud¬ 
denly and violently as a pent-up stream 
might burst over a dam. “Everything! 33 

Lucille was so startled that she jumped 
back. Ethel came forward quickly. 

“ What, for instance? ” she asked, politely. 
“ Can’t we do something? ” 

Alison was mute again. Then again she 
suddenly burst out: “I’m coming down to 
the cape on Saturday! ” 

“ That’s good,” returned Ethel, at whom 
this announcement had been very brusquely 
hurled. She was evidently determined to 
get along with Alison, and to make Alison 
behave, too. “ Maybe you can get some of 
the other girls to come with you.” 

“ No! ” snapped Alison, fiercely. “ I’ve 
broken off with that whole crowd—for¬ 
ever ! ” 

This declaration was sufficiently dramatic 
to startle even Ethel. She and Lucille stood 
staring down at the savage little social 
leader on the ground, unable to determine 
just what to say next. But Alison didn’t 


UNTANGLED 


229 


need any encouragement; something had en¬ 
raged her all the way through, and she was 
eager to pour it out to any ear that would 
listen. 

44 They won’t do a thing I say, just be¬ 
cause my scheme didn’t work—once; though 
Ginger’s scheme all fell flatter than a pan¬ 
cake, and I can’t see that he’s suffering so 
indescribably! And so Mary’s grabbed 
everything! Selfish, underhanded thing! 
It’s what she was planning to do the whole 
time, I know now! So now they’re just do¬ 
ing everything she says, like positive sheep! ” 

44 What has she said to do? ” demanded 
Ethel, grasping at the one intelligible phrase 
in this involved complaint. 

44 To stay away from clearing up Battery 
Cape!” 

44 You don’t mean to say Mary Town¬ 
send’s back of that refusal to come on Sat¬ 
urday?” 

44 1 certainly do. She’s just a politician.” 

44 But I thought she liked the celebra¬ 
tion ! ” protested Lucille, perplexed. Cer- 


230 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

tainly Mary had seemed to like her part, and 
to work hard on her costume, and never, even 
when she favored cutting the program, to 
oppose the pageant directly in any way. 

“ She likes it because she thinks she’s go¬ 
ing to get something out of it,” retorted 
Alison. “ What is it she expects? Why, to 
run all our crowd, of course. She never 
thought she had enough to say about what 
the set did; so she thought if she could help 
Ginger and me to go on the rocks, and keep 
along with the people interested in the cele¬ 
bration, at the same time, she could be 
leader. No, I certainly do not mind telling 
you all this! She’s no friend of mine any 
longer, and I despise Ginger, and every¬ 
body else in the crowd! I always shall! ” 

“ Come, Alison,” said Lucille, sitting 
down on the grass, “ that kind of talk won’t 
get you anywhere. And we are all in such 
difficulties about Saturday; can’t you stop 
thinking about yourself just a little while, 
and try to help us? Certainly everybody in 
your crowd looked up to you until just 


UNTANGLED 


231 


lately, if, indeed, people have ever stopped 
doing so. I can’t believe they have.” 

Alison softened a little, and looked wist¬ 
ful. 

“ Mary’s scheme’s working,” was all she 
said, however. “ She’s got the idea into 
people’s heads that they shouldn’t have to do 
low work like clearing up that messy cape, 
—that it’s all right for people of a certain 
kind to do it, but that her crowd should save 
up their energies to make the show go off 
wonderfully with splendid acting.” 

“ I don’t doubt she’s been successful in 
making a lot of lazy people believe such non¬ 
sense!” cried Ethel, outraged. “Of all 
selfish schemes! But what was that you 
were saying about schemes, Alison?—yours 
and Ginger’s? ” 

Alison, perhaps even to her own surprise, 
answered this direct question with equal 
directness. Once she would have treated 
Ethel with haughty silence; now, Ethel had 
shown herself a person to be reckoned with. 
Anyway, it may have been a relief to Alison 



232 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

to tell some one her sad experiences, repre¬ 
hensible though they were. 

“ My scheme was to stop the pageant-” 

“ What! ” 

“ A lot of us thought the wrong sort of 
people were to be too prominent in it, so I 
suggested filling up the committee on scenes 
mostly with people the judge wouldn’t like, 
so he wouldn’t help them. And then he did 
like them,” frowned Alison, still rather be¬ 
wildered by that fact, “ and he didn’t like 
me, and—and I guess that made me ner¬ 
vous -” 

“ I guess you had a bad conscience,” said 
Lucille, with unusual severity; “ I guess 
that made you nervous. How did you ever 
suppose that a man who knows as much as 
Judge Trenholm couldn’t see through such 
doings? The other people on that commit¬ 
tee were perfectly sincere, whatever short¬ 
comings they had. That was why he liked 
them.” 

“ Well, when I started, I really did think 
they were nearly all the wrong sort, and I 





UNTANGLED 


233 


didn’t want the wrong sort to run a Carleton 
celebration,” returned Alison, defensively. 

“ Well, what then? ” prompted Ethel. 

“ Then when the show went right on, 
Ginger tried to run it-” 

“ Everybody knows about that.” 

“ Yes. But all the time Mary was after 
something for herself. She made me go 
with the committee to the judge’s, as a con¬ 
trast to the other people; I do believe she 
thought I’d get that fit of giggles; anyway, 
she knew I might. Then she made me come 
and sew on costumes, so she could keep in 
with you people, and she backed Ginger’s 
scheme to run things until it fell through, 
because if it had succeeded, she could have 
helped him until she got a chance to grab 
everything herself! And now she’s making 
everybody but me do what she pleases.” 

“ Of all the selfishness I ever heard of! ” 
ejaculated Ethel, frankly, as this remark¬ 
able narrative of human weakness came to 
an end. “No wonder that crowd of yours 
never stuck together,—for it never really 




234 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


did; it just followed one lead, and then an¬ 
other. And as for thinking you were the 
patriotic crowd in Carleton-” 

“ Don’t let’s waste time talking about 
what’s over,” interrupted Lucille. “ Ali¬ 
son’s going to be independent now; and hon¬ 
estly, I don’t know of anybody who really 
knows better how to be unselfish and public- 
spirited, and has more chance! ” 

Alison looked grateful; Ethel, too, real¬ 
ized that Lucille’s helpful words implied 
that Alison’s gifts and home endowed her 
with the ability to be an unusually fine girl 
and good leader, if she would use them 
properly. Perhaps Lucille saw that, so far, 
Alison knew only that she had failed; she 
didn’t know how to change her wrong atti¬ 
tude to others. In a minute she said to 
her: “ You couldn’t possibly have written 
those clever rhymes for the treasure-hunt, or 
those wonderful verses of yours for the 
pageant, if you hadn’t known how to act 
right.” 

“ What do you mean? ” scowled Alison, 



UNTANGLED 


235 


not displeased, however, at the allusion to 
her gifts as a versifier. 

“ I was thinking of your introduction for 
the Indian scene, ‘ Friends though of alien 
race,’ ” answered Lucille; “ and, indeed, of 
that beautiful verse for my own scene about 
Pamela Harrold: ‘ Her art and beauty were 
for all.’ Alison, why don’t you simply do 
what you know? 33 

The delinquent one gave a forlorn giggle, 
as if she wished she could. 

“ Alison,” said Ethel, suddenly, “ if 
you’re coming on Saturday, you must really 
want to help the pageant. Couldn’t you 
write a song for Camilla, so she won’t be so 
badly disappointed? ” 

“ Disappointed? How? ” 

“ We’ve had to rearrange the work on the 
cape, because there aren’t enough of the big 
boys sure of coming. We don’t know 
whether or not we can get everything done 
in time, unless we girls, and some of the 
higher-grade boys, help Will’s squad mov¬ 
ing the guns. So Camilla has offered to 


236 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

stay home from Hallett, and supervise the 
small children while they pick up the papers 
and clear the field/’ explained Ethel; “ she’ll 
sing one of the old songs, instead of getting 
a new one, though none of the old ones is 
quite so appropriate as we hoped, you re¬ 
member.” 

“ She offered to do that? ” repeated Ali¬ 
son. 

She flushed faintly; perhaps she realized 
how lavishly generous, with her small means, 
Camilla had been. 

“ Yes. Couldn’t you write her a special 
song?” 

“ I certainly will,” declared Alison, and 
she spoke both vigorously and with relief. 
“ I’ll find out to-morrow what music she 
wants, and write it specially, and help her 
arrange everything with Miss Page. And ” 
■—Alison was aroused, and spoke with all 
her assurance again— I’ll make those boys 
come to the cape on Saturday! ” 

“ Oh, can you? ” gasped Lucille. 

“ I’ll fix them! ” cried Alison. “ I’ll tell 



UNTANGLED 


237 


them that girls have volunteered to move 
those guns! I’ll tell them that if the people 
in this town see girls doing that sort of work 
because great enormous boys are too peevish 
and lazy to do it, though they’re quite will¬ 
ing to act in the show after it’s been done 
for them, they’ll hear a few remarks they 
won’t like! Say! ” beamed Alison, preening 
herself a bit, “ won’t that be a joke on Mary! 
For if the boys go down, the girls will! 
Mary’ll have to go herself! ” 

“ Oh, Alison,” said Lucille, deprecat- 
ingly, though she wanted to laugh, too, 
“ this isn’t a personal matter, you know. 
It’s just a question of all of us getting to¬ 
gether to put our town celebration over.” 

“ I know that,” agreed Alison, suddenly 
very sober again. “ Well, I’ll do all I can 
for it. I—I know I haven’t acted right. 
Mother’s been at me night and day about 
it!” 

“ Oh-? ” So Alison’s mother was not 

quite so pleased with her as Alison wanted 
people to think, thought the two girls. 



238 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ She says she’s been explaining to people 
for a month that I must have misquoted her, 
and she’s tired doing it; she says she never 
saw such a tangled mind as I have,” ex¬ 
plained the culprit. “ You know that time 
I said she had said representative people 
should take part in community celebra¬ 
tions? ” The girls’ thoughts flew back to 
Memorial Day, and they nodded. “ Well, a 
lot of people heard me, of course, and they 
thought she must mean that only prominent 
people were representative.” 

“ What else could they think? ” wondered 
Lucille and Ethel, privately; “especially 
after the fuss that followed? ” 

“ It made lots of unpleasant talk for 
Mother,” continued Alison, “ so she said I 
was very stupid not to realize that she’d 
meant all groups that make up a community 
should be represented by the best people in 
each group, and that‘ representative ’ meant 
worthiest, and not richest, or grandest, or 
most important in a social sense.” 

“ Of course, your mother must have meant 


UNTANGLED 


239 


that; she’s so kind and nice to everybody,” 
said Lucille, gently. “ I’m sure lots of 
people must have thought you didn’t get 
what she said quite straight that time, Ali¬ 
son. She’ll be very much pleased with you, 
surely, if you can do such a lot for the 
pageant, now.” 

“I’ll go right along and see what I can 
do,” said Alison, rising. 

The two girls saw she didn’t want com¬ 
pany any longer, so they lingered a minute 
on the green lawn behind the privet hedge. 
Privately, both of them may have recalled 
Smarty’s estimate of Alison; she wasn’t 
really very nice,—maybe she never would 
be. But there was a lot of good stuff and 
ability in her, and you had to take people as 
they were. 

“ Anyway,” murmured Lucille, breaking 
the silence, “ she is sincere, now. She sees 
how much harm she did, and she wants to 
stop. And certainly she was glad to get 
her mind untangled, and she’ll go along 
straight now.” 


240 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ She’s the one smart member of that 
crowd,” returned Ethel; “ I believe she’ll 
run it again, and run it right, this time. 
Well, it’ll be no harm for that lot to have 
somebody to tell them what to do. Aren’t 
they dull? How did I ever like them so 
much? I’ve had so much better times since 
I went my own way, and did something in¬ 
teresting and different! ” 

“ You’ll have another chance at that on 
Saturday afternoon,” suggested Lucille, 
mischievously, as she scrambled up and 
pulled Ethel to her feet. “ Fixing Battery 
Cape is going to be interesting and different! 
I don’t believe any boys and girls ever did 
such a thing before. What will people say 
when it’s done? ” 

“ They’ll say,” answered Ethel, with con¬ 
viction, “ ‘ Well, that wasn’t such hard work, 
after all, was it ? ’ Never mind! Carry on! ” 


CHAPTER XIV 


SATURDAY AFTERNOON 

At two o’clock on Saturday afternoon, 
Battery Cape was being prepared for the 
most amazing activities in all its long his¬ 
tory. 

Everywhere boys and girls were rushing 
over it, absorbed in work, oblivious of many 
interested watchers along the road. As a 
recruiting officer for workers, Alison had 
proved a huge success. Possibly her 
methods were firm rather than persuasive, 
but her results were incomparably good. 

Ginger and all his cronies were present in 
force, sorting out rakes and shovels, helping 
Will cut lengths of rope for tow-lines, and 
showing marked eagerness to be included in 
hauling squads. Mary Townsend was help¬ 
ing Miss Page re-plan the staging arrange¬ 
ments she had once expressed such doubt 
about; she had made, in fact, an excellent 

241 


242 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


suggestion to have a parade of all the scenes 
as an inspiring opening number, since there 
could be no concealment for them, owing to 
the absence of curtains and wings. Alison 
and Camilla were working together, carry¬ 
ing down to the stage armfuls of white cords 
that were to mark its limits. The spirit 
shown all over the field was intensely serious 
and determined on success, and every one 
shared it. Smarty alone seemed able to 
chatter while he worked, and did both inde- 
fatigably. 

“ Did you hear what Tom did about the 
tickets? Well, it is a fine scheme. They’re 
to be fifteen cents, instead of twenty-five, on 
account of people having to sit on the 
ground, and if they’ve already bought them 
for twenty-five, they’ll get ten cents refund 
when they present them. And he’s ordered 
a hundred extra tickets, because he must sell 
more, now-” 

“Sorry, Smarty!” interrupted Will, 
passing with a megaphone. “ Everything 
seems to be ready. A-a-a-tention! ” 



SATURDAY AFTERNOON 


243 


Silence reigned. 

“ All ready, now! ” shouted Will. “ The 
boys on the squads to move cannon fall in 
as arranged. Squad 1 get ropes and haul 
the north gun over to the fence; Squad 2 
do the same for the south gun. The girls 
start from the road to pick up rubbish and 
stones, the lower-school boys start doing the 
same thing from the shore, so the two groups 
will meet in the middle. One, two, three— 
go!” 

Work started with a rush. At first it 
seemed as if the older boys had the easier 
task. The litter on the cape was consider¬ 
able, and picking it up and carrying it away 
to pile on wheelbarrows waiting to convey it 
forever thence proved a tedious, if light, 
occupation. However, it was soon some¬ 
thing of a satisfaction to see what a nice 
park Battery Cape might make, if it were 
only really a park. 

In the meantime, Squad 1, five of the 
strongest boys, under the leadership of Dick, 
had tied strong ropes about the gun-car- 



244 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

riage of the northernmost cannon of the five 
in the battery, and, giving a tremendous tug 
at a signal from their leader, were en¬ 
couraged by a loud squeak from iron wheels 
turning for the first time in long years. A 
second tug started the wheels really going; 
and then, amid loud cheers, Squad 1 hauled 
the northern cannon in triumph to the fence 
between the cape and the dunes. 

“ Not so bad! ” was the general verdict. 

“ Only, the holes where the wheels were 
look pretty terrible,” said several voices. 
“ Well, let’s get some turf from up the road, 
and fill them in.” 

As the suggestion was favorably received, 
despite the fact that it meant more work, it 
seemed to everybody who had the pageant 
at heart—Lucille and Ethel, of course, espe¬ 
cially—as if this final piece of work for it 
would go through successfully, no matter 
what difficulties might unexpectedly arise, 
as the way of difficulties was. More work 
might mean just so much more glory! 

“ Now for our next gun,” said Dick, 


SATURDAY AFTERNOON 245 

loosening the ropes from the gun-carriage, 
and turning back toward the remainder of 
the battery. “ Why, what’s happened? Are 
those fellows in trouble? ” 

For Squad 2 had ceased operations, or, 
rather, had not yet begun them. Will, its 
leader, his group of helpers, and several of 
the girls who had halted work a moment, 
were pressing around the mouth of the 
southmost cannon, and peering in, one after 
another, with the greatest interest. 

“ What’s happened? ” demanded Dick, 
running up. 

“ Will has found a meadow-lark’s nest, 
with the young birds, just inside the can¬ 
non’s mouth,” answered Mildred Wrenn. 
“ The mother-bird must have left for a 
minute; she’s sure to be right back.” 

“We can’t move this gun,” said Will; 
“ the mother wouldn’t know where to find 
the nest.” 

“Too bad,” commented Dick, ruefully; 
“ it takes up room right where the front row 
of the audience will be.” 


246 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


But he agreed with Will, as did the in¬ 
creasing number of curious spectators 
crowding up to see the sight, that the south 
gun would have to be left where it stood. 

“ Never mind,” finally said Smarty, who 
had been examining the gun and its remark¬ 
able contents gravely; “my mother says 
that a nest of young birds means good luck. 
We should go on to the next gun.” 

This advice was to the point, and Squad 
2 moved to the cannon next in line, just 
as the mother-bird came back to feed her 
little ones. Squad 1 tackled the neighbor 
of the gun so triumphantly dragged from 
its site a few minutes previously. Both 
squads now found they had to deal with 
cannon of slightly heavier calibre than the 
first, which had therefore sunk a little far¬ 
ther into the ground. The wheels of the 
carriages, in fact, were embedded several 
inches in the soil, and one of the boys had 
to go and borrow a shovel from the sandy 
“ stage,” and dig deep beneath the guns 
before either of them would budge. Even 


SATURDAY AFTERNOON 


247 


then they came heavily away from the 
ground, and one of the ropes broke under 
the strain on it. 

However, ultimately they were rolled up 
alongside of the first camion, and then Miss 
Page suggested a short rest for all hands. 
The fifth cannon was the smallest, but the 
floor of its old wooden carriage had split 
and thrown the weight of the gun to one 
side, so that two of the wheels had sunk 
into the ground nearly their full height. 
Moreover, a thick clump of berry bushes 
was rooted beside the carriage, covering the 
other two wheels with dense shrubbery. It 
would be a hard task to dislodge this gun 
from its resting-place. 

Moreover, the girls and the small boys 
were quite willing to stop bending over and 
picking up for a few minutes, so everybody 
rested by racing around the field at full 
speed, pitching balls, walking along the top 
of the fence, and shrieking as loud as pos¬ 
sible to exercise fatigued lungs. Robert 
Mason’s mother proved herself to be a most 


248 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

I 

delightful parent by sending over, from the 
gray house among the lilac-bushes, two large 
dishpans full of ginger cookies, and these 
proved very restful, also. 

The girls, stimulated by these refresh¬ 
ments, seemed to make a more rapid re¬ 
covery than the boys. In a few minutes, 
they started in to work again without being 
urged, and soon brought their job of clear¬ 
ing up the cape to completion. The field 
overlooking the blue bay was now a neat 
and most attractive spot. Spurred by suc¬ 
cess, and flushed with pride, they hurried 
down the hill in a body, to the semicircular 
space that was to be the scene of the pro¬ 
duction, and, seizing rakes, began to level 
the sands and smooth them. 

“ Come on, boys!” cried Will. “ Don’t 
let the girls beat us to anything. Get ropes, 
both squads; we’ll need them all for this 
gun.” 

Both squads approached the half-sunken 
gun, and examined it. The wheels on the 
tilted side were so deeply embedded in the 


SATURDAY AFTERNOON 


249 


ground that they would have to be dug en¬ 
tirely out. Several boys seized shovels, and 
scooped away valiantly, while others shouted 
answers to questions shouted up the hill and 
from the road, as to what was the matter 
with that last gun. It was a slow business, 
that digging, for the gun had turned over 
against a slightly buried rock, and that, too, 
had to be removed. 

4 4 Never mind, the other two wheels are 
entirely above ground,” said Dick, tossing 
away a final shovelful of earth. 44 There, tie 
on the ropes, and step on it! ” 

So ropes were tied to the four axles, and 
the members of the two squads seized hold 
and pulled enthusiastically. But, strain as 
they might, shouting in chorus, tugging in 
rhythm, the gun would not budge an inch. 
It would not even creak, although all bent to 
the task with their utmost strength. 

44 Pshaw! ” cried Will, examining the ob¬ 
stinate cannon again, from where he stood 
by the wheels that still were low in a rut. 
44 It’s out of balance, of course. Here, 


250 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


everybody on the other side shove, and get 
it flat on the ground.” 

So the old gun-carriage was put as nearly 
on a level as its broken condition permitted. 
Once more the boys seized ropes, and pulled, 
with exactly the previous result. The gun 
remained firmly fixed on the ground. 

By this time the valiant efforts of the two 
squads had drawn all the girls up the hill. 
Many spectators from the road pressed for¬ 
ward, too, and a large group surrounded 
the toiling boys, watching sympathetically. 
The townsfolk were particularly impressed 
with the earnestness with which the squads 
were attacking their problem, and offered 
numerous friendly suggestions. 

“ Why not leave the gun where it is? 
Folks can sit on it and alongside it.” 

“ Yes, it won’t do any harm there. 
Everybody’ll realize you did your best.” 

“ Sure! You can’t help it if it won’t move 
after all you’ve done.” 

“ It’s not worth so much trouble. Better 
put the work on something else.” 


SATURDAY AFTERNOON 


251 


But despite the fact that there was much 
sense in these kindly suggestions, Will and 
Dick and the boys under them all shook 
their heads. The girls, too, agreed with 
Will as he replied: “You see, this gun is 
right in the middle of the space before the 
stage. We’re really bound to move it if we 
can. We must do our best for our audience. 
After all, giving the show here on Battery 
Cape is a makeshift arrangement.” 

So the gun was destined to be moved. 
And, after some minutes more of straining 
effort that was still without avail, a brilliant 
idea struck Dick with such force that he sat 
down flat on the ground and gasped. 

“ Good land, what chumps we all are!” 
he ejaculated. “ Smarty, beat it down to 
the dock, and get some machine-grease from 
the fish-packing plant. We’d such an easy 
time with the other guns, we never thought 
of the simplest thing possible! ” 

For once Smarty showed great tact by 
returning so swiftly with the grease that no¬ 
body had time to feel too foolish. While 


252 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

I 

the boys were applying it to the wheels of 
the gun-carriage, Miss Page called to the 
girls to come down and finish the work be¬ 
low the hill, for the sun was beginning to 
go down. They trooped off, just as one of 
the boys suggested: “ Here, oughtn’t we to 
pull up these bushes that cover this side of 
the gun-carriage? They’re in the way.” 

“ Oh, let’s leave them,” said Dick. 
“ They’re pretty, and we don’t want a big 
bare hole right in the middle of the field 
there.” 

“ But they do obstruct the wheels; don’t 
you see they do? ” 

“ Then let somebody hold ’em down while 
we pull.” 

“ We’ll need everybody to pull if we’re to 
get the gun out at all,” declared Will. 

“Then let’s get help. Hey, Ethel!” 
called Dick. “ Come back here a second, 
you and Lucille! ” 

The two girls, who were starting down the 
slope with the last group of their com¬ 
panions, returned. Dick explained. 


SATURDAY AFTERNOON 


253 


“ So will you two please hold the bushes 
back out of our way as we pull off? Will 
takes the steering-rope, and I take this rope 
on the back of the gun-carriage, to pull up 
when it starts and help keep the balance. 
The others all pull together when I give the 
signal. All ready, then! ” 

Lucille and Ethel knelt down and bent 
the shrubbery back from the pathway of the 
wheels. Dick gave a loud whistle, and jerked 
up his rope. Will and the other boys ran 
forward tugging on their ropes. The boards 
of the old gun-carriage clattered, the wheels 
turned at last! With a roar of triumph, the 
two squads of boys rushed on across the field, 
and wheeled the old cannon swiftly into line 
beside its companions near the fence. The 
spectators followed them, cheering and 
shouting congratulations. Battery Cape 
was cleared! 

So no one saw Lucille and Ethel, still 
kneeling, long after the gun had moved, still 
holding back the berry-bushes, and staring 
open-mouthed at the spot where the cannon 


254 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

had rested for so many years. For on that 
spot, tied up in what looked like a piece of 
an old slicker, lay a curious square, flat 
package. 



So no one saw Lucille and Ethel, still kneeling, long 

AFTER THE GUN HAD MOVED. —Page 253 . 














CHAPTER XV 


PLAT AND SQUARE 

Finally —perhaps in a few seconds, 
though it seemed like hours—Lucille raised 
her eyes and looked at Ethel, only to find 
Ethel, with saucer-eyes in a white face, star¬ 
ing back at her. From both girls broke the 

same whisper: “ Do you remember-? ” 

Lucille couldn’t finish, but Ethel managed 
to do so. 

—“ what Captain Jim said? ” 

“‘A square, flat package! ’ ” breathed 
Lucille. “And, Ethel, the Gypsy was right 

here on Battery Cape-” 

“ And he pointed to the middle cannon ” 
gasped Ethel. “ Oh, Lucille, do you sup¬ 
pose that really can be the package that was 
under the old Gypsy’s arm? What in the 
world do you suppose is in it? ” 

“ Ought we to open it? ” 

“Not here,” said Ethel, prudently; “we 

255 




256 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

must get this work finished, whatever hap¬ 
pens.” At this moment shouts were heard 
from the beach. “ Yes, yes! What is it? ” 

“ Is the big hammer up there? ” called one 
of the girls. “We want to drive the stakes 
to hold the cords.” 

“ Yes, there it is,” called Lucille, standing 
up despite shaky knees, and glancing around 
the now tidy and attractive field; “ over by 
the fence-” 

“I’ll bring it down,” shouted Ethel, dash¬ 
ing off. As she returned with the hammer 
in hand, she whispered: “ I’ll be right back, 
and we can decide what must be done. 
Throw your sweater over it, Lucille; don’t 
let anybody see it yet. What would those 
boys do if they knew we’d unearthed buried 
treasure! ” 

The boys, however, considered the final 
dislodgment of the cannon as the completion 
of their afternoon’s work, and were busily 
occupied in going home. And Ethel, when 
she catone racing breathless up the hill again, 
reported that Miss Page had told her to go 



257 


FLAT AND SQUARE 

home, too, and take Lucille with her. They 
had done enough for the afternoon, she said, 
and all the girls would be going within a few 
minutes, for all the work was nearly done, 
and most satisfactorily. 

“ And now,” asked Lucille, gazing at the 
package she had uncovered again, “ what 
shall we do with this thing? Whose is it, 
and what is it? ” 

“ I tell you,” suggested Ethel; “ let’s go 
after Dick and Will, and see what they 
think. We don’t want everybody to know 
we’ve found something, at least not right 
away, in case it should be the package in 
Captain Jim’s story. You know he said we 
were the only people he’d ever told that 
story to, so maybe he mightn’t want it to 
get all over. But of course those two boys 
heard it, too.” 

“ Quite right,” agreed Lucille. “ Then 
let’s take the package with us, and show it 
to them. Oh, Ethel, help me lift it! ” 

She gasped out the last sentence with a 
jerk, for such an unexpected tug as it took 


258 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

to raise the flat package from the ground! 
Ethel sprang forward, and together the two 
girls lifted the treasure carefully to the 
grass. 

“ Mercy, it’s heavy! ” cried Ethel. 

“ It’s—hard,” murmured Lucille, per¬ 
plexedly. 

Ethel merely urged her briefly to come 
on. So the two hurried down the road after 
the boys as fast as they could with their 
burden. 

When cheerful whistling floated back on 
the late afternoon breeze, Ethel called out to 
Dick. He answered her; next moment he 
and Will, returning in the direction of the 
hail, were seen approaching around a bend 
in the road. 

“ What have you there? ” cried Dick. 

“ We don’t know! ” gasped the girls. 

“Give it here!” ordered Will, helping 
Dick rescue the heavy package. “ What’s 
all this? ” 

Ethel sank down by the roadside, and 
tried to get her breath back, as she gasped: 


FLAT AND SQUARE 259 

“ Boys, what do you think? You mustn’t 
tell a soul, at least, not yet, but we found 
that package under the middle cannon, after 
you had dragged it away! ” 

“ Under the middle cannon! ” repeated 
both boys in concert. 

“Yes!” cried Lucille, excitedly. “Do 
you remember what Captain Jim told us, 
that day we went fishing? ” 

“Let’s see it!” cried Dick, seizing the 
string around the package. 

Will stopped him, however. 

“ We’d better not open it here,” he 
warned; “folks might come along. Let’s 
take it somewhere private.” 

“ To Captain Jim’s,” suggested Lucille. 

“ Gracious, he lives nearly over at the 
Point,” protested Ethel. 

“ But he’s the person to take it to-” 

“ Say,” interrupted Dick, whose curiosity 
was getting the better of him, “ what is this 
thing, anyhow? It’s heavy, and flat, and 
hard-” 


As he spoke, he thumped it with an ath- 




260 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

letic fist. Will followed suit. And from 
the flat package there came forth a shrill, 
faint reverberation. 

Everybody jumped; Lucille and Ethel 
clutched each other. The boys at once 
thumped again, inquiringly, and again there 
sounded that rather thin, faint ringing noise 
such as a sheet of metal might give forth. 

Awed silence fell on the group. The 
wind in the trees had died away; even the 
waves of the blue harbor, far away in the 
dim rays of a sun going down behind mauve 
and deep-blue clouds, seemed scarcely to 
move. The two girls and the two boys, 
standing there on the roadside, around the 
package on the grass, stared wildly at one 
another, first in consternation, then in hope. 
Four pairs of lips had just parted to express 
that hope in a panting whisper, when around 
the bend of the road came racing, at a pace 
which Will and Dick could scarcely have 
outdone, Captain Jim Higgins himself, 
waving something rapturously. 

“ Hurray! ” he cried. “ Hurray-ray-ray! 


FLAT AND SQUARE 261 

What did I tell you? Didn’t I always say 
so? Who knew, that time? Hurray!” 

The package was forgotten. Whatever 
ailed Captain Jim? What could he be talk¬ 
ing about so excitedly? Perhaps the amaze¬ 
ment on four young faces asked all neces¬ 
sary questions as the captain came up, for 
he began of his own accord to explain. 

“ Ben’s coming home! ” he cried, waving 
again the mysterious object which now ap¬ 
peared as a radio message. “ He’s coming 
home on a visit next week! See, here he’s 
sent me this message: 

“ ‘ I keep my word. Arriving Monday.’ 
Yes, I said my boy’d keep his word if he 
got a chance. He’s coming back to Carle- 
ton ! ” 

“He’ll keep his word!” murmured Lu¬ 
cille, puzzled, and so low that perhaps no¬ 
body heard her, for nobody responded. It 
may have been that everybody else was 
equally mystified by this most curious de¬ 
velopment of that strange, wonderful after¬ 
noon. For Ben Porter’s return, as every- 


262 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

body in the little town knew, hinged on a 
condition: “ I’ll come back,” Ben had said 
in his wounded anger, “ when this old dump 
of a town comes back! ” So—was Carleton 
really “ coming back ” to prosperity and 
progress? And—how? Or, rather, per¬ 
haps—why? And, most curious of all, how 
did Ben know anything about it? Even 
Captain Jim hadn’t suggested answers to 
these questions. 

Five thoroughly bemused persons stood 
on the roadside, wrapped in thought, for 
what seemed a long time. At last Ethel, 
always ready for action, broke the silence. 

“ How lovely for you, Captain Jim, that 
your grandson’s coming! I guess we were 
all so happy for you that we just weren’t 
able to say so! ” 

“ I knew folks would feel that way,” re¬ 
plied the gratified old man, “ even if they 
never agreed with me that Ben would come 
back. To tell vou the truth, I came all this 
way to tell the last person that didn’t be¬ 
lieve me, when I said that very thing, that 




FLAT AND SQUAEE 263 

she was all wrong! Where’d you young 
folks leave Miss Page? ” 

“ At Battery Cape,” replied Lucille; 
“ she’s been working there all afternoon, 
ever so hard. We simply couldn’t have done 
a thing with that pageant without her, could 
we, Ethel? ” 

“No,” agreed Ethel; “she’s rehearsed 
and sewed and supervised things night and 
day. She hasn’t gone home yet, either, for 
she hasn’t passed us on the road, so you’ll 

find her at the cape, Captain Jim-” 

“No, here she comes now,” interrupted 
Will. 

Miss Page’s slim, bright-haired figure was 
approaching the roadside group a little 
wearily. The sun’s last rays were in her 
eyes; she could not see anything distinctly 
until she was nearly up to the young folks 
and the captain. Then she gave a bright 
smile of recognition, which frankly became 
questioning; for the boys and girls said 
nothing, feeling that the captain must break 
his own news. 



264 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

' 

“ What’s happened? ” asked Miss Page. 
44 Something nice? ” 

Captain Jim handed her his wireless mes¬ 
sage. 

“ What do you think? ” he inquired. 

Miss Page read the brief sentence, and 
stared. She read it again, and gasped. She 
read it a third time, lifted her eyes, and 
gazed at Captain Jim without a word. The 
girls and boys, having by this time recovered 
from their own amazement, giggled gayly as 
they watched her astonishment. Then the 
astonishment changed to the sweetest, gayest 
smile, as the captain repeated, mischie¬ 
vously, ‘‘Well! What do you think?” 

“ I think,” replied Miss Page, 44 that 
something very nice has happened! ” 

44 Something you never believed would 
happen, eh? ” inquired the captain, trium¬ 
phantly. 

44 1 couldn’t say 4 never ’ ! ” 

44 But you didn’t believe me that time I 
told you Ben would keep his word—that day 
we were talking at the school gate.” 


265 


FLAT AND SQUARE 

Miss Page reflected. 

“ No,” she admitted; “ I didn’t—then—I 
must confess! ” 

“ Then when did you? ” 

She pondered again, with a queer little 
roguish smile, as she glanced around the 
listening group. Then she put out her slim 
hand, and pressed Captain Jim’s wrinkled 
old one in affectionate congratulation as she 
started off down the road quite briskly, in¬ 
stead of at the weary pace with which she 
had approached. 

“ I changed my mind three weeks ago!” 
she called back gayly; and was gone. 

But there was no time to wonder what she 
meant. Lucille and Ethel and Dick and 
Will suddenly recollected the mysterious 
package on the grass by the road, and in 
breathless, excited, confused whispers, that 
soon rose to shrieks, began, all at once, to 
tell Captain Jim all about it. 

“ Yes, under the middle cannon-” 

“ And you see it’s a square, flat pack- 

99 


age 




266 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ Does it look like the one you saw, Cap¬ 
tain Jim? ” 

“ Does it, does it? Oh, oh, oh, how won¬ 
derful! ” 

“ And Captain Jim, didn’t you say it was 
forty years ago that that happened? ” 

“ Do you think, really, it could be the 
same package you saw forty years ago? Do 
you, honestly? ” 

“ Listen, Captain Jim: it rings! ” 

“ Oh, Captain Jim! ” cried Ethel, unable 
to restrain her impatience any longer; 
“ what do you think it is? ” 

“ I couldn’t say,” returned the captain, 
cautiously; but he smiled, too, just as hope¬ 
fully as his young friends were smiling. 

“Open it, open it!” begged the boys. 
“We were just going to bring it over to 
your house, Captain. Open it! ” 

The captain shook his head. “ Not here,” 
he decided, still cautiously. “ But don’t be 
disappointed too quick. I’ve a better plan 
than taking it all the way over to my 
house.” 


FLAT AND SQUARE 267 

“ What is it? ” demanded the quartet, 
eagerly. 

“ S’pose we take it up to Judge Tren- 
holm’s, and open it there. Think he’d like 
to see it, maybe? ” suggested the captain, 
cunningly. “ He’s town-council chairman, 
you know; it might interest him! ” 

“ Splendid!” shouted Lucille and Ethel 
and Dick and Will in delight. 

And eight hands contended for the privi¬ 
lege of carrying the heavy flat package 
triumphantly down the long road through 
Carleton, and uj> the hill. 


CHAPTER XVI 


“ THE TALE OF CARLETON ” 

Smoothing out her blue smock, and mak¬ 
ing sure that the black-velvet bow on her 
quaint white cap was exactly straight, Lu¬ 
cille stepped forward along the road just 
this side of Battery Cape, and touched 
Ethel’s arm. 

“ Ethel,” she whispered, “ it’s really go¬ 
ing to begin. Can you believe it? ” 

“ No,” answered Ethel, with conviction. 
She did, indeed, seem at the moment as 
nearly dazed as such a clear-headed, capable 
girl, most suitably attired in a becoming Red 
Cross uniform, could be. “ Lucille, how I 
have worked for this moment! But I always 
wondered if it would ever come.” 

“ But doesn’t everybody look wonder¬ 
ful? ” suggested Lucille, trying to get a hold 
on reality as she glanced up and down the 

road, where the whole school, dressed in all 

268 


“THE TALE OF CARLE TON” 269 

the colors of the rainbow, and all the styles 
of two centuries, were waiting the signal to 
start down to the foot of the cape. “ And 
did you ever see such an audience! ” 

“ That’s no surprise, though,” declared 
Ethel, letting her eyes roam over the throngs 
of visitors covering the cape, from the road¬ 
side itself to the cliff, and down the slope 
to the very edge of the roped-off semicircle 
of sand that was the stage. “ Nobody could 
have helped us the way your father did, with 
notices in the News. I’m not surprised that 
there are strangers here from all over the 

countv.” 

<•/ 

“ Oh, I hope it’s going to be good! ” 

“ Brace up! This is a good time to lose 
your nerve! Look, Lucille! Do you see 
Camilla’s father anywhere? ” 

Lucille pointed down the hill. 

“ Right there in the front row. Doesn’t 
he look proud? Well, just wait until Ca¬ 
milla comes on! Oh, Ethel, did you hear? 
Tom says nobody will take back money on 
the twenty-five-cent tickets, and he’s made 


270 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


just barrels of it! Nobody seems to mind 

sitting on the ground-” 

“No, there’s Judge Trenholm by the 
south gun, and there’s Captain Jim right in 
front of the stage, at the left. Mercy, who’s 

that with him? Not-” 

“ Certainly; it’s Ben Porter; he got home 
last night.” 

“What a stunning uniform!” cried 
Ethel, admiring with expert taste the gold- 
braided blue suit worn by the tall young 
man seated beside Captain Jim. “ Lucille, 
how do you know about him? You’ve been 
talking to Smarty! ” 

“No, he’s been talking to me! He had 
a vast fund of details about Captain Jim’s 
grandson, I assure you. Oh, Ethel! Are 

you sure the bouquet is-” 

“ Now, that’s all attended to,” Ethel in¬ 
formed her, in a tone that dismissed that 
topic. “ And what else is on your mind? ” 
“ Ethel,” whispered Lucille, refusing to 
be teased, “ aren’t you worried because we 
haven’t heard another thing about-” 






“THE TALE OF CARLE TON” 271 

“ Sh-h-h!” 

“ I know the judge said he’d announce it 
at the right time, but there’s been nothing 
more said about it, and he was so dazed that 

evening we brought it to him-” 

“ Everybody—fall—in! ” 

The megaphone order put an end to way- 
side gossip. The new school band, confident 
after many rehearsals, played its bravest, 
and the procession was off to tell “ The Tale 
of Carleton.” Down the cape and around 
the semicircle of the stage the bright spec¬ 
tacle moved, amid enthusiastic cheers and 
not a few personal greetings from the audi¬ 
ence. 

Then, as the procession halted at one side, 
Mildred Wrenn came forward. She had 
been chosen as Historian, and wore a stately 
cap and gown, in keeping with the dignified 
office which called on her to introduce all 
the episodes of Carleton’s story. In one 
hand she held a great scroll, which typified 
the history she was about to unroll. 

“ Friends of Carleton,” she said, “ we 



272 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

students are to-day recalling the history of 
our beloved town since its foundation two 
centuries ago. 

“ From a glorious past to a glorious pres¬ 
ent, these two centuries have led us. 

“ Toward a glorious future we shall go 
forward, if the spirit of Liberty shall con¬ 
tinue to lead us.” 

She stepped aside; and on the stage swept 
Camilla. 

On her white frock gleamed a tricolor 
sash; on her shining curls, a Liberty cap; on 
her charming little face, her own lovely 
smile. Her scarlet lips parted, and in sil¬ 
very tones that rang far up the hill, she sang 
the song that Alison had written especially 
for her. It was called “ The Golden Sands 
of Carleton,” and the last two lines of the 
chorus predicted that the true spirit of lib¬ 
erty would always bring 

“ A Golden Age of love and peace 
To Carleton’s golden sands.” 

To the general delight of everybody, and the 


“THE TALE OF CARLE TON” 273 

author’s special gratification, the audience 
caught up the last chorus, and sang it with 
Camilla. 

Then followed the eight episodes that 
made up the pageant, each introduced by 
Mildred, and interspersed pleasantly with 
band selections, choruses, and recitations. 

First, headed by Will, the Norsemen in 
their shining armor once more arrived in 
Carleton. Moreover, they carried with 
them a stone tablet which, tradition said, 
they had set up on the beach as a record of 
their arrival in 1000 a. d. One of the boys 
had remembered that this stone was gather¬ 
ing dust in the cellar of the town hall. It 
had been dragged out, scrubbed, its mys¬ 
terious markings emphasized with a little 
charcoal, and it was now borne to the center 
of the stage in triumph. Loud cheers 
greeted it, and the past glories it commemo¬ 
rated, as the proud Vikings made way for 
their successors. 

These were a picturesque tribe of Indians, 
who had been good friends during the hard- 


274 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

ships of the early settlers. The Red Men 
and their families were depicted listening, 
with praiseworthy attention, to the instruc¬ 
tions of a schoolmaster who was leading 
them toward better ways. Here Ginger ap¬ 
peared, as one of the less instructed Indians. 
But in his fine costume he made a handsome 
young brave, and it could be noted that he 
seemed to be minding his book, and trying 
hard to improve. 

The third episode recalled Revolutionary 
days, for it showed Lafayette returning to 
greet his old comrades-in-arms from Carle- 
ton, during his farewell journey. The local 
heroes appeared in their worn Continental 
uniforms. They, with many pretty Carle- 
ton belles in flowered costumes and poke 
bonnets, gave the gallant Frenchman a re¬ 
ception that was itself loudly applauded in 
turn. 

But it was the scene that followed which 
brought the audience to its feet. The ship¬ 
builders that had helped to hew and build 
the first American navy came on the stage, 


“THE TALE OF CARLE TON” 275 

hammering a half-finished wooden ship. In 
short order, the flag was run up, and then 
a second vessel bearing the skull and cross- 
bones at the masthead was towed on. 
Forthwith ensued a most remarkable naval 
battle; for, while general attention had been 
distracted by the entrance of the second 
ship, the shipbuilders, with the aid of blue 
middies and ribboned caps, had suddenly be¬ 
come American sailors. As the Barbary 
pirates, who manned the second vessel, had 
draped themselves in all the best fancy blan¬ 
kets and couch-covers in the town, the battle- 
scene was a colorful spectacle. While brief, 
it was most earnestly fought, but the pirates 
were duly vanquished in short order, and 
towed off in their vessels as prisoners of war, 
while the audience verged toward hysterics. 

And yet the spirit in which that scene had 
been planned and carried out was so earnest, 
the effect so vivid and full of life, that really 
respectful applause followed the laughter. 
And loudest of all in the applause for 
Smarty’s wonderful effort was the young 


276 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

man in the blue uniform, who was sitting 
next Captain Jim. 

When the cheers finally died away, a 
charming contrast to the scene of warfare 
appeared, in the story of Pamela Harrold. 
Few towns had a more distinguished woman 
citizen, thought the spectators, as they 
watched the dainty, girlish figure of Lucille 
weaving at a hand-loom. For stones and 
ships might become dim memories, but the 
memory of Pamela Harrold had never 
faded from Carleton, though it was a hun¬ 
dred years since that lovely and brilliant 
girl, a poor orphan, had won herself fame 
with artistic gifts she could not afford to 
cultivate formally. Using them, however, 
to invent the curious weaves and perfect the 
beautiful dyes she made from local plants, 
Pamela Harrold had begun the industry of 
cloth manufacture now known countrywide 
as “ Carleton homespun.” The tribute to 
this scene proved that its memories ranked 
perhaps first in the heart of Pamela’s home. 

Then the audience was amused again with 


“THE TALE OF CARLE TON” 277 

a most realistic and up-to-date scene show¬ 
ing Carleton’s own great stand-by, the 
fisheries, “ from hook and line to packing 
case,” as Mildred announced. Local pride 
swelled. But it was to swell still further at 
the last scene, the climax of the perform¬ 
ance. 

Back on the stage the seven foregoing 
groups filed, taking up positions along the 
background, with Liberty in the center. 
Against this vivid setting appeared, one by 
one, the representatives of “ Our Own Day 
of Peace and Service,” as the scene had been 
announced. Dick led the procession, carry¬ 
ing the flag; he was loudly applauded. 
Ethel followed him, in the uniform which 
symbolized service to humanity; and after 
her came a stalwart farmer, a busy house¬ 
wife, a carpenter bristling with squares and 
saws, a mechanic with his tools, a learned- 
looking teacher,—all representative of a 
town’s busv dailv life. And finallv came a 
charming, happy group of schoolboys and 
schoolgirls, exactly as they could be seen any 


278 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


day along the road, who typified, as all 
could see, the happy and prosperous future 
of Carleton. 

With a final inspiring chorus echoing over 
the hill, “ The Tale of Carleton ” ended. 
Nor was the smallest tribute to its success 
the fact that the audience gazed in complete 
silence for a full minute at the brilliant 
spectacle still before them, before starting 
a last round of hand-claps. But before the 
applause could die, it was interrupted. 

There had been slight scurryings and ex¬ 
changes of anxious glances at the edge of 
the stage toward the cliff, and now two of 
the little girls came forward from that point, 
firmly leading Miss Page, who looked pro¬ 
testing and bewildered. Shouts from all 
over the stage greeted her; she was con¬ 
ducted straight down to the center front of 
the stage, and Ethel stepped to her side, 
bearing an enormous bouquet of roses which 
had mysteriously appeared from some hid¬ 
ing-place. 

“ Miss Page,” said she, “ these are from 


“THE TALE OP CARLE TON” 279 

all the girls and boys with their love and 
thanks and appreciation for everything 
you’ve done for us, and for Carleton. We 
want everybody to know that if you hadn’t 
believed in us, and helped us, to-day would 
never have happened! ” 

For the first time on record, Miss Page 
was at a loss for something to say. She 
took the roses and stood perfectly still an in¬ 
stant, with the sun haloing her bright hair, 
a smile on her face, indeed, but so surprised 
and touched by the tribute that words failed 
her. And then the young man in the blue 
uniform, sitting next Captain Jim, saved the 
day. 

“ Speech!” he shouted, springing to his 
feet as mischievously as one of the boys on 
the stage might have done. “ Speech! 
Speech! ” 

“ Hurray! ” cried Captain Jim, clapping 
loudly. “ Speech!” 

All over the stage and the hill the cry 
went up, with loud cheers and laughter. 
Miss Page shot a reproachful glance toward 


280 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

the young man in the blue uniform; he 
seemed quite unrepentant. Indeed, he 
smiled most complacently. So Miss Page 
smiled, too; and then the noise and disorder 
brought her to herself. She joined in the 
laughter, and, raising a hand to quell it, 
gave in gracefully. 

“ This lovely tribute is a complete sur¬ 
prise to me,” she said, sweetly. “ Girls and 
boys, I cannot tell you how I thank you for 
it, though I feel I do not deserve it. For it 
was not I, dear friends ”—she turned to the 
audience—“ who made to-day happen. But 
the people who did that include everybody 
else on this stage! ” 

“ There’s glory enough to go around,” 
said Mr. Lowrie, stepping forward as Miss 
Page retired, with her roses. “ If I may 
make just one announcement, I shall then 
call on our eminent fellow-citizen, Judge 
Trenholm, to tell us just what to-day has 
brought us all. I wish to announce that this 

% 

performance has cleared the sum of sixty- 
four dollars and fifty cents, and it has been 


“THE TALE OF CARLETON” 281 

suggested from several student quarters 
that this sum ought to be given to the town 
for some public benefit. Consequently, the 
school will shortly be called on to vote how 
they wish this first money they have made 
expended for Carleton.” 

This announcement was greeted enthusi¬ 
astically, especially by the school! Then, 
with a courtly bow, Judge Trenholm arose 
from his seat by the south gun and walked 
up on the stage, smiling with a gracious¬ 
ness which was one of the biggest surprises 
of that surprising day. He beckoned to two 
boys stationed at the right of the stage. 
They left it, and immediately reappeared, 
bringing on a little table, which they placed 
at the judge’s side. 

The mystified audience, quite silenced, 
then saw one of the boys return with a flat, 
square package, which he laid carefully on 
the table. Then the judge faced around to¬ 
ward the performers, who were still grouped 
along the background. 

“ Will Miss Lucille Douglas,” he in- 


282 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

quired blandly, “ kindly step to the front 
row, and hold herself in readiness to act 
when she is called on? ” 

And so Lucille, amazed and trembling, 
but managing to return the judge’s smile, 
stepped forward amid the astonishment of 
her comrades and the whole audience, and 
listened as the judge began his speech. 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE HOME-COMING 

“ This day,” said Judge Trenholm, with 
impressive sincerity, “ is the happiest of my 
whole life, as I believe it must be for every 
one present. For it is the day, dear friends, 
when this beautiful town of ours, our be¬ 
loved home, has shown its resolve to press 
forward to a future history as glorious as 
that which is past. 

“ I will not detain you long, for, surely, 
after what our young people have done to¬ 
day, there is not much that an old man can 
either do or say. But I have three pleasant 
duties to perform before we part. 

“ First, I am authorized to make an an¬ 
nouncement from the town council. When 
we learned of the efforts of our boys and 
girls to make Battery Cape, long such an 
eyesore, into a place suitable for public 
assembly; when we saw the neat and attrac- 

283 


284 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

tive results of their efforts; we decided, at 
our last meeting, that such work should be 
made permanent. Therefore, plans for ap¬ 
propriations to keep the cape in good con¬ 
dition as a public park are now under way. 
We hope that soon everybody will be com¬ 
ing out here often, to take the sea air! ” 

The judge’s little joke was as popular as 
his announcement, and when laughter let 
him go on, he was still in a happy vein, 
though it was serene rather than gay. 

“ For some time,” he jwoceeded, “ it has 
seemed to me that Carleton has many young 
people eager to learn and progress—very 
many. I think we have not appreciated this 
fact, we older people; certainly we have 
provided them with few opportunities to 
fulfill their ambitions. I may say that this 
fact was called to my attention by one of 
our boys who regularly cleans fish on the 
docks so he may get carfare into Hallett to 
read in the public library there.” 

Everybody looked at Will, but Will 
looked only at the judge. 



THE HOME-COMING 


285 


“ So, as I am privileged to have the op¬ 
portunity, I propose to remedy this con¬ 
dition, so far as I personally can. In the 
east wing of my house, as so many of you 
know, there are two large communicating 
rooms. They were formerly my son Ralph’s 
rooms. He,” continued the judge gently, as 
his hearers gave him particularly sym¬ 
pathetic and respectful attention, “ was a 
Carleton boy, who did his best. I should 
like to think that in the future our boys and 
girls will be helped to do their best in those 
rooms where he lived. They are well 
adapted for use as public rooms, and I 
have offered them to the town council as the 
first home of what I hope will some day be 
a splendid public library. With them goes 
a fund of a thousand dollars to start the pur¬ 
chase of books. I asked that this offer might 
be made public on this occasion, so that the 
young people could hear of it before they 
scatter on vacation. I believe when they 
come together again in the fall, they will 
find their library awaiting them. 


286 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


44 And now,” said the judge, after his 
magnificent and touching gift had been 
acknowledged with an admiring gratitude 
such as he could have seldom experienced 
before, 4 4 1 must temporarily leave the young 
folks. I call especially on the older people 
to prepare themselves to hear unexpected 
and most welcome news, the greatest tri¬ 
umph of this wonderful day. Fellow- 
citizens, after an absence of forty years— 
forty years of misunderstanding and trouble 
and lagging behind—Carleton’s silver 
plaque has come back! ” 

A moment the whole audience sat dazed, 
scarcely understanding the words. Then a 
thrill ran through the crowd, people stared, 
looked wildly at one another, gasped. Some 
one cried out, 44 Where is it? ” 

44 Here on this stage,” replied the judge, 
waving his hand toward the table. 

44 What brought it back? ” now cried sev¬ 
eral voices. 

44 These young folks on this stage! ” an¬ 
swered the judge, waving toward them. 



THE HOME-COMING 


287 


“ As Las been well said, there is glory here 
for all; but as Miss Lucille Douglas orig¬ 
inally had the idea of holding this pageant to 
celebrate Carleton’s founding, I now call on 
her to untie this package.” 

Lucille’s knees trembled so terribly that 
she could hardly walk the distance to the 
table. Somehow she managed it, however, 
and with shaking fingers untied the loosely- 
knotted cord that held the old slicker around 
the flat square package. Then, with a high- 
beating heart, amid dead silence, she re¬ 
turned to her place. 

The judge unwrapped the package, and 
held up the contents. Glittering in the 
summer sunlight appeared, before the won¬ 
dering eyes of the audience, a large plaque 
of brilliant silver. All the metal-polish in 
the judge’s house, all the elbow-grease of 
four strong boys and girls, had gone to shine 
that plaque, the evening it had been borne 
from Battery Cape up the hill. Those of 
the audience near the stage could read the 
inscription, in curious, old-fashioned Eng- 


288 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

lish lettering, and all the old-timers recog¬ 
nized with gasps of satisfaction the quaint 
adornment of the Carleton codfish which 
commemorated the famous exploit of the 
heroic fishermen. 

“ This plaque,” said the judge, breaking 
the silence, “ lay hidden, until last Satur¬ 
day, for forty years, under the central gun 
of the old battery yonder on the cape. 

“ It was saved to us, I believe, through an 
act typical of the best Carleton spirit. 
Forty years ago, our beloved Captain Jim 
Higgins, at considerable risk to himself, 
saved the life of a little Gypsy boy, and re¬ 
stored the child to his family, who were 
secretly camped for the night on Battery 
Cape. One of that family, as Captain Jim 
has related to me, had undoubtedly stolen 
the silver plaque from the town hall. He 
had done it so skillfully that no trace was 
ever found of the crime; as my older friends 
will remember, no one has ever known how 
the plaque disappeared. But, as we also be¬ 
lieve, the child’s father got possession of the 


THE HOME-COMING 


289 


plaque from the thief, and, in gratitude for 
Captain Jim’s brave act, left it in Carleton, 
under the central gun. 

“ Forty years ago that gun was not sunk 
into the ground as it was found last Satur¬ 
day; for, beyond a doubt, the Gypsy had 
noticed its placement and decided there was 
a good hiding-place for the plaque below it. 
The trouble was, to give Captain Jim a clue 
regarding the hiding-place. What clue he 
could give him, he did. But it was by neces¬ 
sity faint, for doubtless he feared to be in¬ 
volved in the disappearance of the plaque. 
Accordingly, it was never understood where 
had been the hiding-place of the silver 
plaque. 

“ Captain Jim had shown this Gypsy, a 
member of an alien race, an outstanding act 
of brotherhood. So , 4 Brotherhood,’ said the 
Gypsy, pointing toward that central can¬ 
non, ‘ shall be the secret of this soil, so long 
as the head, the hand, and the heart rule to¬ 
gether! 9 To him, as to us, the plaque was 
the symbol of such brotherhood; unquestion- 


290 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

ably he hoped that we could trace the symbol 
to that spot in our soil. 

“ But this was not to be, until our young 
folks did it a few days ago. In the face of 
differences and opposition, a few far-seeing, 
generous spirits—encouraged by teachers 
to whom we, fellow-citizens, owe the greatest 
gratitude—succeeded in winning their whole 
group of comrades to a patriotic effort for 
this town. Overcoming innumerable dif¬ 
ficulties, these young folks gradually united 
their wills, their strength, and their varying 
talents to bring this celebration into being. 

“ Their last and hardest task was to clear 
Battery Cape. They performed it. Their 
performance brought back to Carleton its 
great treasure, which you see here before 
you,—our talisman, the silver plaque! But, 
dear friends, what brought back that plaque 
was a treasure far greater than any trophy 
could possibly be; it was, in fact, the old, 
priceless possession which won the plaque in 
the first place: the heroic spirit of unselfish 


service. 




THE HOME-COMING 


291 


“ Friends, may brotherhood again, from 
this day, be the secret of our soil! Division 
and difference between citizens of the same 
town is surely as out of date as that antique 
cannon yonder, which, no longer in battle, 
has become the home of singing birds. If 
we have come here from different places, 
and have different ideas of how to live, let 
us ever remember the great history of 
achievement behind us, and henceforward 
sink our differences, and build soundly and 
confidently for the future. Let us, in short, 
unite our own efforts under the wise, inspir¬ 
ing, progressive rule of heart, head, and 
hand! We have before us the example of 
how to do so; let us follow it! ” 

Judge Trenholm, lifting the silver plaque 
again, took a step forward, and gave a 
beckoning glance around the audience. The 
members of the town council rose from their 
places, and, coming forward in a body, 
joined him as he stepped from the stage. 

“ The plaque is to be returned to its place 
in the town hall,” he announced. “ After 


292 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

this escort has reached the road, all those 
present are invited to march up to the hall, 
and see our treasure home! ” 

Never was there a more popular sugges¬ 
tion. The crowd rose quickly, and, in or¬ 
derly fashion, fell in along the road behind 
the council. The band struck up a march, 
and, following directions from the mega¬ 
phone, the whole pageant fell in too, in the 
formation decreed for dismissal, and, instead 
of breaking ranks, swept up the cape and 
along the road to Carleton Green. 

“ Wait just one minute—oh, please do 
wait for me! ” 

It was a breathless Ethel who had seized 
the opportunity provided by a brief halt in 
the march, to keep out of the dust made by 
the audience’s trampling feet, and to run up 
the road to seize Lucille’s arm. She drew 
her aside, and squeezed the arm hard and 
affectionately. 

“ Oh, Lucille, wasn’t it wonderful! Such 
a surprise, wasn’t it, the way the judge 
opened the package? And I’m so, so happy 



THE HOME-COMING 


293 


that he chose you to untie it! You were the 
one person to do it! ” 

“ Oh, Ethel, if you knew how perfectly 
happy I am!” sighed Lucille. “But it 
seemed like too much honor. Think how 
hard everybody else worked! Yourself, for 
instance, Ethel; why, you certainly did at 
least twice as much actual work as I. You 
deserve a bigger reward still!” 

“ I think I’ve got it! ” smiled Ethel. 

“ What do you mean? ” 

But Ethel would only laugh, and shake 
her head mysteriously. “ This isn’t a good 
time to tell you, Lucille. Later on, I will 
tell you all about it.” 

“ I must say there are a lot of things I 
don’t understand about these last weeks yet, 
—I mean, since we’ve been getting up the 
pageant,” sighed Lucille, when teasing had 
failed to budge Ethel from her resolution. 
“ How did Ben Porter happen to come back 
just at this time? How did he know Carle- 
ton was coming back, as it seems it is going 
to do? Why didn’t he write last month? 


294 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

And if we have come back, how are we go¬ 
ing to be different? ” 

“ Wait, wait! ” laughed Ethel. “ I don’t 
know the answers to those questions, either, 
but I guess we’ll find them out, too, later 
on. In the meantime, isn’t the silver plaque 
enough?” 

It was for the throng on the road, for they 
were now marching forward again, and kept 
up a steady pace until they drew up in front 
of the old gray town hall. Far off in the 
dazzling sunlight the waves of blue Hallett 
Bay shone and danced their brightest, and 
on Carleton Green the trees, now just full¬ 
leaved, rustled in merry chorus in a soft salt 
breeze. To the gay crowd of Norsemen, 
Indians, patriots, fishermen, workers of an¬ 
cient and modern days, and the less spec¬ 
tacularly clad, but equally important citi¬ 
zens of all ranks, Carleton seemed the best 
place in the world that happy day. 

And in a moment the town council filed 
out on the upper balcony of the hall, with 
Judge Trenholm in their midst, holding the 


THE HOME-COMING 


295 


plaque. But now it was restored to the 
frame which had originally held it, a dark, 
heavy bit of ebony, that had for many years 
lain in the dust of the town-hall cellar, but 
now reappeared as the setting for the great 
trophy. 

Seeing this, the crowd cheered, and 
cheered, and cheered again. For the frame 
had spoken a message that all had under¬ 
stood: the talisman of Carleton was pre¬ 
pared to return to its own place, to be the 
inspiration, the guide, as well as the pride, 
of future days! Carleton’s silver plaque 
was home, to stay! 


CHAPTER XVIII 


SILVER AND GOLD 

Bright June had become brighter July 
several days ago, when, one warm after¬ 
noon, Ethel crossed the road to Lucille’s 
house, with a very determined look on her 
face. 

She saw Lucille on the porch, lying in the 
hammock, reading. She crept up the steps 
unheard, stole along behind her friend, 
stretched out two firm, capable hands, and 
slammed the book shut. Then, “ Come 
on!” cried Ethel. “Let’s go somewhere 
and do something! ” 

“ All right,” agreed Lucille, with the 
sweetest and most disappointing amiability. 
“ Where? And what? ” 

“ Well, we cannot go to Battery Cape —” 

“ No, it’s all roped off, and the workmen 
are still digging and levelling it. And oh, 

Ethel, I passed it this morning, and they’re 

296 


SILVER AND GOLD 


297 


going to arrange flower-beds in the park 
the prettiest way! They’ll be like this-” 

“ That’ll do for Battery Cape for the 
present. We’re going somewhere to do 
something,” repeated Ethel, blocking the 
enthusiastic hand that was reaching out for 
a pencil to reproduce the flower-bed design. 
“ We can’t go there, and we can’t stroll 
down the beach road in the hope of being 
treated by our young friend Bob Mason, as 
I hear he is called since his pirate act went 
over so successfully.” 

“Why not? Oh, yes, he must be at 
Judge Trenholm’s this afternoon with the 
library committee that’s helping the judge 
choose books for the new library, as per 
invitation.” 

“ And we can’t go fishing with Captain 
Jim-” 

“ Not to-day. It’s the last day of Ben’s 
leave, and the captain’s spending it ashore 
with him. I saw them out together this 
morning, and they said that Ben must go 
back to-morrow.” 




298 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ And we can’t go treasure-hunting, that 
I know of.” 

“ Nor I; but we have done a good deal of 
that, lately! ” 

“ So, Lucille,” finished Ethel, in a severe 
tone, “ since it was that plan of yours which 
has resulted in exhausting all our sources of 
amusement, it is certainly up to you to think 
of where we shall go and what we shall do! ” 

“That’s easy!” cried Lucille, bounding 
out of the hammock. “We’ll go to the 
south beach and go in swimming. I didn’t 
exhaust the ocean, anyway! ” 

Without another word, Ethel dashed back 
across the road for her bathing-suit, and Lu¬ 
cille up-stairs for hers. Next moment they 
were swinging down the road up which they 
had so often toiled in the last few weeks, on 
important errands like visiting a distin¬ 
guished citizen, straightening out tangled 
plans for public progress, and getting a 
thrilling discovery identified. 

Their stroll was quiet, for some time, in¬ 
deed, quite without interruption. Many of 


SILVER AND GOLD 


299 


the Carleton girls had already gone to a 
mountain camp where Ethel and Lucille 
were to join them, for a month, the follow¬ 
ing week. A bend in the road that gave the 
first view of the docks showed them Will’s 
strong, stocky figure sturdily working on 
them, and reminded them that Dick, too, fol¬ 
lowing his friend’s inspiring example of in¬ 
dustry, had resolved to spend his vacation 
working under his father’s direction in the 
big fish-packing plant. 

“ Everybody’s pleased about that,” con¬ 
fided Ethel; “of course Dad and Mother 
are delighted that he finally saw there was 
a good business chance for him here, and 
now that he does something for himself, he’s 
ever so much interested in the work. You 
know, Lucille, that’s a big secret of success, 
I find: have something of your own to do, 
and do it in a way nobody else can do it.” 

“Wise, wise Ethel!” declared Lucille. 
“ I wonder if that is the reward you said 
you had received, right after the pageant, 
and refused to describe any farther? It 


300 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

must be. Well, modest as you are, I have 
heard that every one said the costumes you 
made—should I not say, created?—were at 
least half the show. These things will get 
around, my dear! ” 

“ Oh, nonsense, that isn’t what I meant! ” 
cried Ethel. “ No, I was referring to Ca¬ 
milla, but I couldn’t talk about her just 
then.” 

“ Why, what’s happened about her? I 
haven’t seen her since that day.” 

“ I heard what her father said to Miss 
Page, when our scene was waiting to fall in. 
He came up with his arm around Camilla, 
beaming with smiles, and said: ‘ My girl 
can go on with school; she must be teacher, 
like you! ’ ” 

“ Ethel, how wonderful! Ethel Merriam, 
I believe you planned that presentation of 
the bouquet to Miss Page on purpose to 
impress Mr. Caro! He probably thinks 
teachers get presents like that every day, and 
wants Camilla to! ” 

“ No, I didn’t! ” denied Ethel, laughing a 



SILVER AND GOLD 


301 


little self-consciously, however. “ I planned 
it because we all wanted to do something for 
Miss Page; I did hope, I admit, that it 
would be a kind of climax that might in¬ 
cidentally finish off Mr. Caro. That, I 
couldn’t count on; but it was effective, I 
guess, and anyway, he’s going to let Camilla 
go on studying, and have her career. And 
I guess, Lucille, that bad feeling that 
threatened to divide the town over that silly 
fuss about the flag—do you remember, Miss 
Page mentioned it to us?—has all disap¬ 
peared. Camilla’s family have lots of 
friends that work for Dad, and he says that 
for several days now, after closing-time at 
the plant, a number of them have gone to 
the cape to help until dark, for nothing, with 
the work there. The town will belong to all 
of us, at this rate, some day, I’m sure. And 
I only hoped to help Camilla! Yes, I’ve 
had my reward.” 

There was a short silence, spent by Lucille 
in thinking what a splendid girl Ethel was. 
No one could work like her, or have prac- 



302 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


tical foresight like hers; and no one could 
learn like Ethel. A mistake was to her a 
lesson and a stepping-stone, that was all. 
Ethel was now her real self, lively, loyal, 
energetic, brimful of clever ideas and gen¬ 
erosity, and no one, Lucille felt, could deny 
her recognition any longer. And then Ethel 
spoke again. 

“ Alison has asked me to join her danc¬ 
ing-class next fall.” 

“ Shall you? ” asked Lucille, somehow not 
too much surprised at the news. She had 
been invited herself, some time ago, to join 
this really very nice little club when she was 
fifteen, which would be on the third of Sep¬ 
tember. Ethel would be fifteen in October. 

“ Yes,” answered Ethel, with pleasant 
enthusiasm, “ I think it ought to be lots of 
fun. I’ll have plenty to do, but I’d like to 
join it, because Alison seemed to want me, 
and I think we’ll be good friends.” 

“ She’s gone to Hallett to-day, did you 
know it? ” remarked Lucille, as the road 
still continued to be deserted by other young 


SILVER AND GOLD 


303 


promenaders. “ Yes, with the whole gift 
committee; I saw them meet at her house, 
and start off together.” 

“ Was Mary there? How did she look? ” 
“ Oh, quite pleasant! I think she’ll help 
see to it that the furniture is very nice. 
She’s better at details than at organization! ” 
“ It was a fine idea to use our sixty-four 
dollars and fifty cents to help buy equip¬ 
ment for the library, I think,” declared 
Ethel. “ Not a dissenting vote on that 
proposition, was there? Oh, look, Lucille! 
Actually, something is coming along this 
forsaken road! ” 

The something was a Ford car, and just 
as the two girls came abreast of the yellow- 
pillared schoolhouse, now closed up tight, a 
blue speck became visible in the car, then 
the speck became a whole uniform with gold 
trimmings, and Ben Porter appeared at the 
wheel, with Captain Jim beside him. As 
the car came abreast of the schoolhouse, Ben 
drew up, and both the occupants got out. 

“ So you’re going swimming,” commented 


304 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

Ben, after greetings had been exchanged. 
“ I wish I could,—visiting makes you lazy! 
I must report back to my ship to-morrow, 
though, and I leave to-night for New York.” 

He was a fine-looking young fellow, jolly 
and friendly, with a clever, earnest face. 
Every one who had seen something of him 
on his visit had liked him very much, and 
hoped for a better acquaintance with him; 
for, to tell the truth, Ben was a trifle shy. 
But his reserved manners were not unat¬ 
tractive, in fact, they gave promise of re¬ 
vealing an interesting personality on longer 
acquaintance. Lucille said hopefully: 
“ Maybe you’ll be coming back soon, 
though? Swimming will be even better next 
month.” 

“ I think you’ll see me back before the 
summer’s over,” returned Ben, pleasantly. 
“ In fact, maybe more than once. You see, 
this will be my last trip on the good old 
Algonquin . I’ve been transferred to a faster 
vessel.” 

“Promoted, promoted!” rebuked Cap- 


SILVER AND GOLD 


305 


tain Jim. “ Land sakes, Ben, you’d think 
it was a crime to be any good in your work, 
to listen to you! ” 

“Isn’t that perfectly wonderful!” cried 
Ethel. “ Congratulations! And if you’re 
promoted, what do they call you now? ” 

“ Chief radio operator,” prompted the 
captain, before poor Ben could have pos¬ 
sibly answered. “ And his name’ll be 
printed on the officers’ list for all the pas¬ 
sengers to see, and if the commander wants 
him to step to the bridge, he’ll have to say 
‘ Please ’ when he asks him! ” 

“Wow!” ejaculated the embarrassed 
Ben. “ I’ll be glad I’m going, Granddad, if 

you give all these secrets away-” 

“ I can do a lot worse,” Captain Jim be¬ 
gan to threaten; but at that instant, to the 
surprise of the two girls, the schoolhouse 
door opened, and Miss Page came out. 

She locked it behind her, and came along 
the path to the gate. She was prettily 
dressed in an afternoon frock of dark 
pleated silk, and a small overnight bag in 



306 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

her hand indicated that she was off for a 
visit. 

“ I was just putting my desk in final 
order,” she explained, as Ben took the bag 
and put it in the Ford. “ I didn’t get much 
chance at that desk during the last three 
or four weeks, girls! I’m off to visit my 
aunt in Hallett for a fortnight, and I’m to 
have a lift to the station, early, to check my 
trunk. Captain Jim, aren’t you coming? ” 

“No, I’m bound down to the store, to get 
some new tackle for my boat,” answered the 
captain. “ But maybe I’ll have company, 
too? ” 

“ Yes, indeed, we’ll go along,” assented 
the two girls, as Ben climbed into the car, 
and Miss Page waved a gay farewell. 
“ Good-bye, Miss Page! Have a good 
time!” 

The trio of friends, one old and two 
young, swung on down the road toward the 
beach. And to the three of them, as they 
left the schoolhouse gate, came a swift 
momentary recollection of how they had. 


SILVER AND GOLD 


307 


just a few weeks ago, looked at Carleton 
from that very point, and seen it in the guise 
of a sleeping town. They glanced at one an¬ 
other involuntarily, and, seeing the same 
recollection written on each face, smiled, and 
then, glancing again over the town lying on 
the crescent-shaped shore of the blue har¬ 
bor, laughed softly at the contrast. 

For there was no shadow now over Carle- 
ton ; all its silvery shingled roofs, on hillside 
and beach and beyond the dunes, reflected 
dazzlingly the afternoon sunshine. The 
busy dock, the harbor full of bustling small 
craft, the laborers far off on Battery Cape, 
were visible evidence that Carleton was a 
live place; even the temporary absence of 
many of the boys and girls now only showed 
that they were really away only on the task 
of bringing back, in some form, new life 
and resources to their home. 

“ Well, girls,” observed Captain Jim, with 
a mischievous twinkle in his bright eye, “ I 
reckon folks don’t think I’m such an old 
story-teller now as they used to! ” 


308 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ Why, what do you mean? ” began Ethel; 
but Lucille broke in: “I know what the 
captain means, and I’m so glad he spoke 
about it! I have always wanted to know, 
Captain Jim, about that wireless message 
you showed us the day you met the four of 
us on the road with the silver plaque. Be¬ 
cause, of course, you mean your prediction 
about your grandson coming back was abso¬ 
lutely true. Isn’t that what you’re talking 
about? ” 

“ Why, partly,” said the captain; but 
Lucille was satisfied to talk just about Ben 
for the present. 

“ I knew you’d tell us sometime about 
how he knew just the right time to come 
back. Do, Captain, please! You showed us 
the message; I know you’re just dying to 
tell us all about it now! ” 

“ Well,” began Captain Jim, evidently 
quite pleased by Lucille’s astute guess, “ it 
was a sort of coincidence that Ben should 
come back just at the very time the town 
started to come back, when he couldn’t pos- 


SILVER AND GOLD 


309 


sibly have known a thing about what folks 
were doing; and all excited over his coming 
as I was, that coincidence didn’t escape me. 
Well, after he had come, and we got kind 
of calmed down, I says to him, ‘ Ben, how’d 
you happen to come right now? ’ 

“ ‘ The Mason kid sent me a message,’ 
says he. 

" ' What ? 3 says I. 

“ ‘ He must have busted up his tin bank 
to do it,’ says Ben, ‘ but do it he did. Yes, 
sir. And you could have blown me over¬ 
board when that thing came rattling into my 
own ears on board the Algonquin . 3 And 
then, seeing I didn’t believe him, he showed 
me the message as he’d put it down, and I’m 
going to show it to you two girls.” 

From his pocket he produced a slip of 
paper, and spread it open as his two aston¬ 
ished listeners halted to read it. 

The sender of the message had grandly 
disregarded the saving of a single word, lest 
he should fail to make himself perfectly 
clear: 


310 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 


“ This is to notify you that next week 
Carleton is coming back with a fine patriotic 
pageant by the school. 

“ Robert Mason.” 

“ Did anybody in the world ever think of 
such things as Smarty! ” gasped Ethel. 

“ Bob,” corrected the captain. 

“ I mean, Bob! Just the same, the ques¬ 
tion stands.” 

“ I said something like that myself, to 
Ben,” admitted Ben’s grandfather. “ And 
he says, ‘ Probably not,’ but this time, as 
usual, the kid thought of something good. 
He remembered Bob, you see, as a queer 
little tyke, but with a lot of brains. Bob, of 
course, was sure Ben would keep his word 
if he knew he could, and got a chance; so he 
told him he could, and gave him the chance. 
What’s that you’re looking at, Lucille? ” 

“ The date of the message,” answered 
Lucille, handing back the slip of paper. 
“ It’s the day we decided to clear up Bat¬ 
tery Cape! Of course I knew it must have 
been before we found the plaque; the day 


SILVER AND GOLD 


311 


we did that was the same day you got the 
message saying your grandson was coming. 
I wonder how in the world Bob ever—I have 
it! He must have telegraphed this from 
Dad’s office! ” 

“ He did,” grinned the captain; “of 
course your father approved. Did he tell 
you? ” 

“ He never said a word about it! How 
do I know? Why, I remember Bob nearly 
told me all this, the day he went to Dad’s 
office to get our Battery Cape announce¬ 
ment in the News, He was wild to tele¬ 
graph somewhere about something, and I 
simply cut him short! He must have just 
believed our working together would get the 
right results! ” 

“ Well, I believe he learned it from Lu¬ 
cille! ” cried Ethel, fondly. “ Lucille hadn’t 
a thought in her head about finding the 
plaque when she decided that we must all 
work together for the town,—had you, Lu¬ 
cille? ” 

Lucille shook her head with a laugh. “ I 


312 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

didn’t even feel it would do us any good if 
it came back, then! ” she admitted. “ But I 
can’t think Bob learned much from me. 
It’s possible I learned from him, in fact. 
For that day he beat the roll, and got 
chaos out of order by sounding a call that 
everybody obeyed together, he showed he 
understood what uniting people for some 
real purpose can do. And ever since, he’s 
always been public-spirited, no matter how 
anybody laughed at him.” 

“They’ve quit!” cried the captain. 
“ But don’t think, Lucille, that you and he 
were the only two here who knew good must 
come out of working together. Remember 
that day Miss Page met us on the road, you 
two and Dick and Will and me? ” 

“ And the plaque and the wireless mes¬ 
sage! Yes, Captain. And oh, she said that 
queer thing about having changed her mind 
three weeks before, to agree with you that 
your grandson would come back? I always 
did wonder what she meant! ” 

“ She knew if you young folks would go 


SILVER AND GOLD 


313 


ahead together, the town would come back, 
and Ben with it! But I haven’t finished my 
story, and the best part’s coming,” recol¬ 
lected Captain Jim. “ Well, when I knew 
how Ben had come back, I asked him, ‘ Why 
didn’t you write me last month? ’ And he 
says, ‘ I wanted to come home that bad that 
I couldn’t write a line!’ And the reason 
was the secret he was afraid I’d tell you a 
minute ago, with him here! On one of his 
recent trips the other radio man on the ship 
was taken sick; and after Ben had been do¬ 
ing night and day service for thirty hours, a 
call for help came from a sinking freighter, 
and the Algonquin went to the rescue, and 
finally patched up the freighter and got her 
into harbor, with Ben on duty four days 
with hardly any sleep. Of course he could 
make that up; but the point was, that if he’d 
made mistakes with the messages, as he 
could scarcely have helped, being so worn 
out, anything on earth might have hap¬ 
pened. Well, he didn’t make one. So he 
got his promotion. 


314 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

“ And then, girls, it struck him hard that 
he’d been mighty foolish, pledging his word 
when he mightn’t want to keep it. For 
there was a special reason why he’d wanted 
to come home more than once, and particu¬ 
larly now, when he’d got ahead in the world. 
And I’m glad to say he had just about made 
up his mind to swallow his foolish pride, and 
come back anyhow, when what he calls his 
‘ notification ’ came, and let him come home 
in state! ” 

“ What was the special reason? ” asked 
Lucille, much thrilled. 

“ You just saw her drive off in the 
Ford!” said the captain, smiling. “ Yes, 
girls; Miss Page has put that desk in 
good order, for she won’t put it in order 
no more. I sort of imagine she’s making 
that long visit to ITallett to do some shop¬ 
ping, for I know, on one of Ben’s coming 
visits toward the fall, the two of them will 
be married, and then she’ll go to New York 
to live, where his ship comes in. Well, I’m 
as satisfied as they are, I guess; they’ve 


SILVER AND GOLD 


315 


been good friends so long there’s no doubt 
they’ll be happy.” 

“ Oh, Captain Jim,” cried Ethel, rap¬ 
turously, “ that is the most wonderful story 
you ever told us! ” 

“ It’s another of my true ones,” laughed 
the captain. “ Well, girls, so long! Here’s 
the store, so I leave you.” 

On the two girls went together for a 
quarter of a mile, for the south beach, fa¬ 
vored by the best swimmers in Carleton, lay 
that distance beyond the cape. After ex¬ 
changing a few delighted comments on all 
Captain Jim’s wonderful news, Ethel cried 
gayly, “ And oh, he told the truth that day 
at the school-gate in a way he forgot to 
mention! ” 

“ What was that? ” asked Lucille. 

“You, of all people, should remember! 
You asked him if he really thought we could 
do wonderful things and have great careers 
in Carleton; and he said, ‘ Why not? ’ Are 
you convinced now? ” 

“ I am. I’ve been so busy lately carry- 


316 TWO GIRLS AND TWO TREASURES 

ing on my wonderful career I’ve had no 
time even to worry about it! But, Ethel 
dear, it’s time for me to tell the truth, now; 
so I tell you that it was you yourself who 
led me into having that career, and, I think, 
who will send me on to finer things yet.” 

“Please tell me how!” cried Ethel, 
wholly astonished.. 

“ You made me go to the treasure-hunt. 
If I hadn’t gone, I’d have missed the chance 
of learning the secret of finding treasure, or, 
perhaps, treasures—of all sorts! Surely,” 
reasoned Lucille merrily, “ the ‘ clues ’ must 
always be the same! Whatever you want to 
get, if you steer straight from the start, are 
open-minded, meet adversity cheerfully, and 
refuse to be stopped, you’ll reach your goal, 
just as those bright verses led us, that one 
evening. And just as they brought me the 
precious key to the whole chest, as well as 
my own little special treasure, I think fol¬ 
lowing them anywhere will bring you some¬ 
thing more than you expect. Didn’t we get 
a much better prize than even our dear sil- 


SILVER AND GOLD 


317 


ver plaque, when we all went forward to¬ 
gether on Battery Cape? ” 

“ What do you mean, dear Lucille? ” 

“ Our golden treasure—happiness!” 

“ Surely! And there’s only one way for 
that to be pure gold! ” 

Lucille looked at her friend inquiringly. 
Ethel’s face crinkled with teasing laughter. 

“ You know what I mean as well as I do! 
Look yonder, there’s the answer! ” 

Lucille looked intently at the charming 
scene now before her—the warm, bright 
sweep of golden sand of the south beach, 
the wide blue ocean tossed lightly by the 
crisp, free salt breeze, the dozen comrades 
already spending the glorious afternoon in 
the water, who, spying the two girls, were 
now calling out hearty greetings to them. 
Then she turned back to Ethel, still puzzled. 

“ Dear child,” said Ethel, taking pity on 
her, “ the only way for real happiness to 
exist is for everybody to be in the swim! 
Come along! ” 


THE END 






















































































































































00024fc,S444fl 









































































































